Florida International University Miami, Florida, United States
The OR pathway has been found to play a salient role in host preference in mosquitoes. The OR
functional unit consist of an obligate co-receptor named Orco and a variable ligand-dependent
odor-tuning OR. The ligand-dependent receptor is responsible for the selective capability of the
neuron and may be narrowly attuned to one particular odor or show board response to many
odors. Receptors with unknown ligand relationship are termed “orphan” receptors. Deorphanization of insect receptors has traditionally been accomplished by two major methods , the empty neuron and Xenopus laevis oocyte heterologous system. These methods although potent suffer from a few limitations, primary a means to assess many receptors simultaneously.
Discovering the targets of behaviorally responsive odors could greatly expedite
development of novel vector control strategies. Recently, a phenomenon was discovered in Mus musculus and Drosophila melanogaster that prolonged exposure to an odorant is positively correlated with modulation of the mRNA levels of receptors interacting with the odor-ligand . A novel strategy Deorphanization of Receptors based on Expression Alteration of mRNA levels (DREAM) has therefore been suggested as a way to perform a high-throughput screen of ligand-receptor pair candidates by evaluating changes in the resulting olfactory receptor mRNA levels after prolonged odor
exposure. Here we investigate the response of an Aedes aegypti receptor to prolonged exposure
to its known odor-ligand. We have isolated and analyzed odor-evoked transcriptomes to allow
identification of candidate receptors to the most behaviorally salient odors.
