| Title: | Molecular signatures of sexual communication in the phlebotomine sand flies |
| Author(s): | Hickner PV; Timoshevskaya N; Nowling RJ; Labbe F; Nguyen AD; McDowell MA; Spiegel CN; Syed Z; |
| Address: | "Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, United States of America. Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, United States of America. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States of America. Department of Biological Sciences, Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, United States of America. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Institute of Biology, Fluminense Federal University, Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil" |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pntd.0008967 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1935-2735 (Electronic) 1935-2727 (Print) 1935-2727 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Phlebotomine sand flies employ an elaborate system of pheromone communication wherein males produce pheromones that attract other males to leks (thus acting as an aggregation pheromone) and females to the lekking males (sex pheromone). In addition, the type of pheromone produced varies among populations. Despite the numerous studies on sand fly chemical communication, little is known of their chemosensory genome. Chemoreceptors interact with chemicals in an organism's environment to elicit essential behaviors such as the identification of suitable mates and food sources. Thus, they play important roles during adaptation and speciation. Major chemoreceptor gene families, odorant receptors (ORs), gustatory receptors (GRs) and ionotropic receptors (IRs) together detect and discriminate the chemical landscape. Here, we annotated the chemoreceptor repertoire in the genomes of Lutzomyia longipalpis and Phlebotomus papatasi, major phlebotomine vectors in the New World and Old World, respectively. Comparison with other sequenced Diptera revealed a large and unique expansion where over 80% of the ~140 ORs belong to a single, taxonomically restricted clade. We next conducted a comprehensive analysis of the chemoreceptors in 63 L. longipalpis individuals from four different locations in Brazil representing allopatric and sympatric populations and three sex-aggregation pheromone types (chemotypes). Population structure based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and gene copy number in the chemoreceptors corresponded with their putative chemotypes, and corroborate previous studies that identified multiple populations. Our work provides genomic insights into the underlying behavioral evolution of sexual communication in the L. longipalpis species complex in Brazil, and highlights the importance of accounting for the ongoing speciation in central and South American Lutzomyia that could have important implications for vectorial capacity" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Brazil Chemoreceptor Cells/*metabolism Female Insect Proteins/*genetics Insect Vectors/parasitology Leishmania Leishmaniasis/*prevention & control/*transmission Male Phlebotomus/genetics/*parasitology/physiology Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide/gen;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineHickner, Paul V Timoshevskaya, Nataliya Nowling, Ronald J Labbe, Frederic Nguyen, Andrew D McDowell, Mary Ann Spiegel, Carolina N Syed, Zainulabeuddin eng Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. 2020/12/29 PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2020 Dec 28; 14(12):e0008967. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0008967. eCollection 2020 Dec" |
