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Odorant-binding proteins and olfactory coding in the solitary bee Osmia cornuta

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Abstract

Solitary bees are major pollinators but their chemical communication system has been poorly studied. We investigated olfactory coding in Osmia cornuta from two perspectives, chemical and biochemical. We identified (E)-geranyl acetone and 2-hexyl-1,3-dioxolane, specifically secreted by females and males, respectively. A transcriptome analysis of antennae revealed 48 ORs (olfactory receptors), six OBPs (odorant-binding proteins), five CSPs (chemosensory proteins), and a single SNMP (sensory neuron membrane protein). The numbers of ORs and OBPs are much lower than in the honeybee, in particular, C-minus OBPs are lacking in the antennae of O. cornuta. We have expressed all six OBPs of O. cornuta and studied their binding specificities. The best ligands are common terpene plant odorants and both volatiles produced by the bee and identified in this work.

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Abbreviations

OR:

Olfactory receptor

OBP:

Odorant-binding protein

CSP:

Chemosensory protein

SNMP:

Sensory neuron membrane protein

1-NPN:

N-Phenyl-1-naphthylamine

IPTG:

Isopropyl-1-thio-β-d-galacto-pyranoside

SDS-PAGE:

Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

GC/MS:

Gas-chromatography/mass spectrometry

Amel :

Apis mellifera

Bter :

Bombus terrestris

Mrot :

Megachile rotundata

Ocor :

Osmia cornuta

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Acknowledgments

Y. X.-W. thanks the University of Pisa for a 1-year scholarship supporting his visit at the laboratory of A. Felicioli.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Xue-Wei Yin, Immacolata Iovinella & Paolo Pelosi

  2. Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Roberto Marangoni

  3. IGA Technology Services Srl, Udine, Italy

    Federica Cattonaro

  4. Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Guido Flamini

  5. Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Simona Sagona & Antonio Felicioli

  6. Key Lab for Biological Control of the Ministry of Agriculture, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

    Xue-Wei Yin & Long Zhang

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  1. Xue-Wei Yin
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  2. Immacolata Iovinella
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  3. Roberto Marangoni
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  4. Federica Cattonaro
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  5. Guido Flamini
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  6. Simona Sagona
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  7. Long Zhang
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  8. Paolo Pelosi
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  9. Antonio Felicioli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Antonio Felicioli.

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X.-W. Yin and I. Iovinella have contributed equally to this work.

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Yin, XW., Iovinella, I., Marangoni, R. et al. Odorant-binding proteins and olfactory coding in the solitary bee Osmia cornuta . Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 70, 3029–3039 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-013-1308-2

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