Silencing the odorant receptor co-receptor impairs olfactory reception in a sensillum-specific manner in the cockroach

Kosuke Tateishi; Takayuki Watanabe; Hiroshi Nishino; Makoto Mizunami; Hidehiro Watanabe

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.104272

Silencing the odorant receptor co-receptor impairs olfactory reception in a sensillum-specific manner in the cockroach

iScience. 2022 Apr 20;25(5):104272. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104272. eCollection 2022 May 20.

Authors

Kosuke Tateishi¹, Takayuki Watanabe^{2

3}, Hiroshi Nishino⁴, Makoto Mizunami³, Hidehiro Watanabe¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Earth System Science, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka 814-0180, Japan.
² Research Center for Integrative Evolutionary Science, School of Advanced Sciences, Sokendai-Hayama, Shonan Village, Hayama 240-0193, Japan.
³ Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan.
⁴ Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan.

Abstract

Insects detect odors via a large variety of odorant receptors (ORs) expressed in olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs). The insect OR is a heteromeric complex composed of a ligand-specific receptor and the co-receptor (ORco). In this study, we identified the ORco gene of the cockroach, Periplaneta americana (PameORco), and performed RNAi-based functional analysis of PameORco. All OSNs in the basiconic sensilla expressed PameORco and received a large variety of odors including sex pheromones. In trichoid sensilla, a PameORco-positive OSN was consistently paired with a PameORco-negative OSN tuned to acids. In adult cockroaches injected with PameORco dsRNA at the nymphal stage, the expression of PameORco, odor receptions via ORs, and its central processing were strongly suppressed. These results provide new insights into the molecular basis of olfactory reception in the cockroach. The long-lasting and irreversible effects of PameORco RNAi would be an effective method for controlling the household pest.

Keywords: Entomology; Molecular neuroscience; Sensory neuroscience.