As one of the most destructive oligophagous pests, the chrysanthemum aphid (Macrosiphoniella sanborni) has seriously restricted the sustainable development of the chrysanthemum industry. Olfaction plays a critical role in the environmental perception of aphids, but very little is currently known about the chemosensory mechanism of M. sanborni. In this study, four MsanOBPs, four MsanCSPs, eight MsanORs, two MsanIRs and one MsanSNMP were identified among the 28,323 unigenes derived from the antennal transcriptome bioinformatic analysis of M. sanborni adults. Then, comprehensive phylogenetic analyses of these olfactory-related proteins in different aphid species were performed using multiple sequence alignment. Subsequently, the odor-specific and wing-specific expression profiles of these candidate chemosensory genes were investigated using quantitative real-time PCR. The data showed that most of these chemosensory genes exhibited higher expression levels in alate aphids. Among them, MsanOBP9, MsanOR2, MsanOR4, MsanOR43b-1, MsanCSP1, MsanCSP2, MsanCSP4, MsanIR25a and MsanIR40a in alate aphids showed remarkably higher expression levels than in apterous aphids under the effect of the host plant volatiles, indicating that these genes may take part in the specific behaviors of alate adults, such as host recognition, oviposition site selection and so on. This study lays the groundwork for future research into the molecular mechanism of olfactory recognition in M. sanborni.
Keywords: Macrosiphoniella sanborni; antennal transcriptome; aphid; chemosensory genes.