Traps baited with female-produced sex pheromones have been very effective in the monitoring and management of mirid bugs in numerous field trials. However, none of the target odorant receptors for sex pheromone components in Apolygus lucorum have been identified. Here, we identified one candidate sex pheromone receptor, AlucOR4, from A. lucorum. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) analysis revealed that AlucOR4 was antennae-enriched and male-biased in adult A. lucorum. Xenopus oocyte expression system assays demonstrated that AlucOR4/AlucOrco was sensitive to two major sex pheromone constituents and exhibited high sensitivity to (E)-2-hexenyl butyrate (E2HB) and lower sensitivity to hexyl butyrate (HB). The expression level of target mRNA was significantly reduced (>80%) in dsAlucOR4-injected bugs after five days. The electroantennogram (EAG) responses of male antennae to E2HB and HB were also reduced significantly (~40%). Our findings suggest that AlucOR4 is essential to sex pheromone perception in A. lucorum.

中文翻译：

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Apolygus lucorum（Meyer-Dür）中一种性信息素受体（AlucOR4）的功能表征。

在许多野外试验中，用雌性性信息素诱饵诱集的陷阱在监控和管理虫子方面非常有效。但是，尚未鉴定出芦poly中性信息素成分的目标气味受体。在这里，我们从A. lucorum中鉴定了一种候选性信息素受体AlucOR4。实时荧光定量PCR（qPCR）分析表明，AlucOR4在成人A. lucorum中富含触角，并且雄性偏向。爪蟾卵母细胞表达系统分析表明，AlucOR4 / AlucOrco对两种主要的性信息素成分敏感，并且对（E）-2-己烯基丁酸（E2HB）表现出高敏感性，对丁酸己酯（HB）表现出较低的敏感性。五天后，dsAlucOR4注射的小虫中目标mRNA的表达水平显着降低（> 80％）。雄性触角对E2HB和HB的脑电图（EAG）反应也显着降低（〜40％）。我们的发现表明，AlucOR4对于A. lucorum中性信息素的感知至关重要。