The sensory neuron membrane protein, SNMP1, was initially discovered in moths and is associated with sex pheromone sensitive neurons, suggesting a role in the detection of these semiochemicals. Although DrosophilaSNMP1 has been reported to be involved in detecting of the sex pheromone cis-vaccenyl acetate (cVA), the role of this protein in moths in vivo is still largely unexplored. In this study we developed a SNMP1^−/− homozygous mutant line of Helicoverpa armigera using CRISPR/Cas9. Wind-tunnel behavioral experiments showed that HarmSNMP1^−/− males could not be attracted by sex pheromones (Z11-16:Ald/Z9-16:Ald = 97/3), while mating behavior obvervations revealed that the SNMP1 mutant males didn't react much to calling females and the rate of copulation was significantly decreased. The electrophysiological results indicated that HarmSNMP1 contributes to the detection of 16-carbon liner sex pheromones, (Z)-11-hexadecenal (Z11-16:Ald), (Z)-9-hexadecenal (Z9-16:Ald), (Z)-11-hexadecanol (Z11-16:OH) and 16-carbon acetate (Z)-11-hexadecenyl acetate (Z11-16:OAc), but is not required for detecting the 14-carbon sex pheromone component (Z)-9-tetradecenal (Z9-14:Ald) an analogue of Z11-16:Ald, (Z)-9-tetradecen-1-yl formate (Z9-14:OFor), which can activate the Z11-16:Ald-responsive neuron. Taken together, our studies indicated that HarmSNMP1 has an important role in the detection of long-chain sex pheromones, but is not essential for detecting shorter chain sex pheromone in vivo.

感觉神经元膜蛋白SNMP1最初是在飞蛾中发现的，并且与性信息素敏感的神经元有关，表明在检测这些化学信息素中的作用。尽管据报道果蝇SNMP1参与检测性信息素顺式-乙酸乙酸乙烯酯（cVA），但该蛋白在体内飞蛾中的作用仍未开发。在这项研究中，我们开发了一个SNMP1 ^{- / -}的纯合突变线棉铃虫使用CRISPR / Cas9。风洞行为实验表明HarmSNMP1 ^-/-雄性不能被性信息素所吸引（Z11-16：Ald / Z9-16：Ald = 97/3），而交配行为表明，SNMP1突变体雄性对称呼雌性的反应不大，交配率为明显减少。电生理结果表明HarmSNMP1有助于检测16碳内衬性信息素（Z）-11-十六烯（Z11-16：Ald），（Z）-9十六烯（Z9-16：Ald），（Z ）-11-十六烷醇（Z11-16：OH）和16碳乙酸酯（Z）-11-十六碳烯乙酸酯（Z11-16：OAc），但检测14碳性信息素组分（Z）不需要- 9-十四烯（Z9-14：Ald）是Z11-16：Ald的类似物，（Z）-9-十四烯-1-基甲酸（Z9-14：OFor），可激活Z11-16：Ald响应神经元。综上所述，我们的研究表明HarmSNMP1在检测长链性信息素中具有重要作用，但对于体内检测短链性信息素并不是必不可少的。