TY - JOUR TI - A novel lineage of candidate pheromone receptors for sex communication in moths AU - Bastin-Héline, Lucie AU - de Fouchier, Arthur AU - Cao, Song AU - Koutroumpa, Fotini AU - Caballero-Vidal, Gabriela AU - Robakiewicz, Stefania AU - Monsempes, Christelle AU - François, Marie-Christine AU - Ribeyre, Tatiana AU - Maria, Annick AU - Chertemps, Thomas AU - de Cian, Anne AU - Walker, William B, III AU - Wang, Guirong AU - Jacquin-Joly, Emmanuelle AU - Montagné, Nicolas A2 - Scott, Kristin A2 - VijayRaghavan, K A2 - Stensmyr, Marcus C A2 - Zwiebel, Laurence J A2 - Xu, Wei VL - 8 PY - 2019 DA - 2019/12/10 SP - e49826 C1 - eLife 2019;8:e49826 DO - 10.7554/eLife.49826 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.49826 AB - Sex pheromone receptors (PRs) are key players in chemical communication between mating partners in insects. In the highly diversified insect order Lepidoptera, male PRs tuned to female-emitted type I pheromones (which make up the vast majority of pheromones identified) form a dedicated subfamily of odorant receptors (ORs). Here, using a combination of heterologous expression and in vivo genome editing methods, we bring functional evidence that at least one moth PR does not belong to this subfamily but to a distantly related OR lineage. This PR, identified in the cotton leafworm Spodoptera littoralis, is highly expressed in male antennae and is specifically tuned to the major sex pheromone component emitted by females. Together with a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of moth ORs, our functional data suggest two independent apparitions of PRs tuned to type I pheromones in Lepidoptera, opening up a new path for studying the evolution of moth pheromone communication. KW - insects KW - lepidoptera KW - Spodoptera littoralis KW - olfaction KW - odorant receptor KW - CRISPR/Cas9 JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -