Cao, F., Li, H., Dong, B., Peng, Y., Xu, L., Li, S., Wang, J., Jiang, H. (2026). BdorOR49a and BdorOR63a are responsible for male pheromones perception in the oriental fruit fly.  Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 189(): 104503.

FBrf0264809

Research paper

The oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis is a serious fruit pest. Trimethylpyrazine (TMP) and tetramethylpyrazine (TTMP) were characterized as its male released sex pheromone, which showed strong attraction to sexually mature females. So far, the molecular basis of the perception of TMP and TTMP by the females has remained unknown. In this study, using BdorIR8a[-/-] and BdorOrco[-/-] mutants, we demonstrated that the perception of TMP and TTMP is mediated by odorant receptors (ORs). Furthermore, we generated transgenic Drosophila expressing two odorant receptors (BdorOR49a and BdorOR63a previously showed in vitro binding ability to TMP and TTMP, respectively) in T1 neurons. Subsequent single sensillum recordings (SSR) of the transgenic fly demonstrated that BdorOR49a and BdorOR63a are tuned to TMP and TTMP, respectively. Furthermore, knockout of BdorOR49a and knockdown of BdorOR63a in vivo reduced the olfactory sensitivity of the females to TMP and TTMP. Our results indicated that BdorOR49a and BdorOR63a are responsible for the perception of the male released sex pheromones in B. dorsalis.