A tale of two copies: Evolutionary trajectories of moth pheromone receptors.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
; 120(20): e2221166120, 2023 05 16.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37155838
ABSTRACT
Pheromone communication is an essential component of reproductive isolation in animals. As such, evolution of pheromone signaling can be linked to speciation. For example, the evolution of sex pheromones is thought to have played a major role in the diversification of moths. In the crop pests Spodoptera littoralis and S. litura, the major component of the sex pheromone blend is (Z,E)-9,11-tetradecadienyl acetate, which is lacking in other Spodoptera species. It indicates that a major shift occurred in their common ancestor. It has been shown recently in S. littoralis that this compound is detected with high specificity by an atypical pheromone receptor, named SlitOR5. Here, we studied its evolutionary history through functional characterization of receptors from different Spodoptera species. SlitOR5 orthologs in S. exigua and S. frugiperda exhibited a broad tuning to several pheromone compounds. We evidenced a duplication of OR5 in a common ancestor of S. littoralis and S. litura and found that in these two species, one duplicate is also broadly tuned while the other is specific to (Z,E)-9,11-tetradecadienyl acetate. By using ancestral gene resurrection, we confirmed that this narrow tuning evolved only in one of the two copies issued from the OR5 duplication. Finally, we identified eight amino acid positions in the binding pocket of these receptors whose evolution has been responsible for narrowing the response spectrum to a single ligand. The evolution of OR5 is a clear case of subfunctionalization that could have had a determinant impact in the speciation process in Spodoptera species.
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Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Atrativos Sexuais
/
Mariposas
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article