Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 10-19-2015
Department
Biological Sciences
Abstract
The body louse, Pediculus humanus humanus, is an obligate blood-feeding ectoparasite and an important insect vector that mediates the transmission of diseases to humans. The analysis of the body louse genome revealed a drastic reduction of the chemosensory gene repertoires when compared to other insects, suggesting specific olfactory adaptations to host specialization and permanent parasitic lifestyle. Here, we present for the first time functional evidence for the role of odorant receptors (ORs) in this insect, with the objective to gain insight into the chemical ecology of this vector. We identified seven putative full-length ORs, in addition to the odorant receptor co-receptor (Orco), and expressed four of them in the Xenopus laevis oocytes system. When screened with a panel of ecologically-relevant odorants, PhumOR2 responded to a narrow set of compounds. At the behavior level, both head and body lice were repelled by the physiologically-active chemicals. This study presents the first evidence of the OR pathway being functional in lice and identifies PhumOR2 as a sensitive receptor of natural repellents that could be used to develop novel efficient molecules to control these insects.
Recommended Citation
Pelletier, Julien; Xu, Pingxi; Yoon, Kyong-Sup; Clark, John M.; and Leal, Walter S., "Odorant receptor-based discovery of natural repellents of human lice" (2015). SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity. 15.
https://spark.siue.edu/siue_fac/15
Included in
Behavior and Ethology Commons, Entomology Commons, Other Genetics and Genomics Commons, Other Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health Commons, Parasitology Commons
Comments
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ibmb.2015.10.009
©2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)