Baculoviruses are double-stranded DNA entomopathogenic viruses that infect predominantly insects of the order Lepidoptera. Research in the last decade has started to disentangle the mechanisms underlying the insect-virus interaction, particularly focusing on the effects of the baculovirus infection in the host's physiology. Among crucial physiological functions, olfaction has a key role in reproductive tasks, food source detection and enemy avoidance. In this work, we describe that Spodoptera exigua multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (SeMNPV) induces expression changes in some odorant receptors (ORs) - the centrepiece of insect's olfaction - when infecting larvae from its natural host Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Different ORs are up-regulated in larvae after SeMNPV infection, and two of them, SexiOR35 and SexiOR23, were selected for further functional characterization by heterologous expression in empty neurons of Drosophila melanogaster coupled to single-sensillum recordings. SexiOR35 appears to be a broadly tuned receptor able to recognise multiple and different chemical compounds. SexiOR23, although correctly expressed in Drosophila neurons, did not display any significant response to a panel of 58 stimuli. Behavioural experiments revealed that larvae infected by SeMNPV exhibit altered olfactory-driven behaviour to diet when it is supplemented with the plant volatiles linalool or estragole, two of the main SexiOR35 ligands, supporting the hypothesis that viral infection triggers changes in host perception through changes in the expression level of specific ORs.

杆状病毒是双链 DNA 昆虫病原病毒，主要感染鳞翅目昆虫。过去十年的研究已经开始解开昆虫-病毒相互作用的潜在机制，特别关注杆状病毒感染对宿主生理的影响。在至关重要的生理功能中，嗅觉在生殖任务、食物来源检测和敌人躲避方面起着关键作用。在这项工作中，我们描述了甜菜夜蛾多核多角体病毒 (SeMNPV) 在感染来自其天然宿主甜菜夜蛾的幼虫时诱导一些气味受体 (ORs) 的表达变化 - 昆虫嗅觉的核心（鳞翅目：夜蛾科）。在 SeMNPV 感染后，幼虫中不同的 ORs 上调，其中的两个，SexiOR35 和 SexiOR23，被选择用于通过在黑腹果蝇的空神经元中异源表达与单感器记录耦合的进一步功能表征。SexiOR35 似乎是一种广泛调谐的受体，能够识别多种不同的化合物。SexiOR23，虽然在果蝇中正确表达神经元对一组 58 种刺激没有表现出任何显着反应。行为实验表明，被 SeMNPV 感染的幼虫在补充植物挥发物芳樟醇或草蒿脑（两种主要的 SexiOR35 配体）时表现出对饮食的嗅觉驱动行为的改变，支持了病毒感染通过改变宿主感知而引发宿主感知变化的假设。特定 OR 的表达水平。