Understanding of insect odorant-binding proteins and cytochrome P450 mechanisms for the development of new insect behaviour control agents

昆虫通过化学信号来指导重要的生存行为。例如，雄性舞毒蛾用触角探测雌性散发的引诱性信息素或寄主植物的气味。触角上中空的感觉毛含有神经细胞末梢，这些末梢被信息素结合蛋白（pbp）包裹着。这些PBPs对于感觉毛的高度敏感和选择性信号传导至关重要。在申请人小组中发现，舞毒蛾中的两种PBPs对各种天然气味剂或合成嗅觉调节剂的结合机制不同。这些调节剂降低或增强了飞蛾对特定信息素或植物气味的反应。本研究的第一个目标是将两个PBPs及其同源配体的结构与单个感觉毛的电生理反应联系起来。这些反应可能与昆虫的行为有关。这种分子与行为之间的联系对于优化化合物是必要的，这些化合物通过对嗅觉系统的影响来调节害虫的行为。

Insects guide important behaviours for their survival through chemical signals. E. g., male gypsy moths detect the attractant pheromone emitted by the females or the odours of host plants, using their antennae. Hollow sensory hairs on the antennae contain nerve cell endings that are bathed by pheromone-binding proteins (PBPs). These PBPs are essential for the highly sensitive and selective signalling of the sensory hairs. Two PBPs in gypsy moth differ in their binding mechanism for various natural odorants or for synthetic olfaction modulators, discovered in the applicant's group. These modulators either decrease or enhance the response of the moths to a particular pheromone or plant odour. The first objective of this proposal aims to link the structure of the two PBPs and their cognate ligands with the electrophysiological responses of single sensory hairs. These responses can be linked to the behaviour of the insect. Such molecule-to-behaviour links are necessary for the optimization of compounds that modulate pest insect behaviour through their effect on the olfactory system.