The diversity and evolution of odorant receptors in beetles (Coleoptera)

• The insect odorant receptors (ORs) are amongst thelargest gene families in insect genomes and the primarymeans by which insects recognize volatile compounds.The evolution of ORs is thus instrumental inexplaining the chemical ecology of insects and as amodel of evolutionary biology. However, althoughORs have been described from numerous insect species,their analysis within and amongst the insectorders has been hindered by a combination of limitedgenomic information and a tendency of the OR familytoward rapid divergence, gain, and loss. We addressedthese issues in the insect order Coleoptera through atargeted genomic annotation effort that included 1181ORs from one species of the sister order Strepsipteraand 10 species representing the four coleopteran suborders.The numbers of ORs in each species variedfrom hundreds to fewer than 10, but coleopteran ORscould nevertheless be represented within a schemeof nine monophyletic subfamilies. We observed manyradiations and losses of genes amongst OR subfamilies,and the diversity of ORs appeared to parallel thehost breadth of the study species. However, somesmall lineages of ORs persisted amongst many coleopteranfamilies, suggesting receptors of key functionthat underlie the olfactory ecology of beetles.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Biokemi och molekylärbiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Evolutionsbiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Evolutionary Biology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

chemoreceptors

chemical ecology

olfactory evolution

olfactory genetics

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