昆虫味觉受体研究进展

Advances in the Research of Insect Gustatory Receptors

化学感受受体在昆虫的觅食、食物选择、交配和产卵等行为中发挥着重要作用。随着果蝇、按蚊、蜜蜂、赤拟谷盗和家蚕等昆虫基因组测序的完成,各物种中完整化学感受受体(包括嗅觉受体和味觉受体)得以鉴定,并从中鉴定出与气味识别、食物选择密切相关的受体基因,如果蝇的二氧化碳受体基因DmGr21a和DmGr63a,糖受体DmGr5a,以及冈比亚按蚊识别人类气味的AgOr1等。其中,昆虫的味觉受体功能与昆虫食物选择、大量取食直接相关。本文就目前昆虫基因组中味觉受体的鉴定、进化、表达和功能等方面的研究进展进行了综述。对味觉受体功能的研究,将有助于我们认识昆虫味觉编码的分子基础和神经调控网络,也是研究昆虫与植物相互关系的热点。

The chemoreceptor plays a vital role for insects in food seeking, feeding determination, mating and oviposition site selection. The chemoreceptor repertoires of fruit fly （Drosophila melanogaster）, anopheline mosquito, bee, red flour beetle （Tribolium castaneurn） and silkworm （Bombyx mori） have been identified since the completion of genome sequencing of these insect species, e.g. the carbon dioxide receptors DmGr21a and DmGr63a and the sugar receptor DmGr5a in Drosophila and AgOrl used by the Anopheles gambiae mosquito （Anopheles gambiae） to locate the host. Significant progresses have been made in functional researches of chemoreceptors. Nevertheless, the gustatory receptors may be directly involved in feeding determination and various feeding habits. The present paper offers a review of the identification and evolution as well as the expression patterns and functional researches on insect gustatory receptors. Studies on the functions of guatatory receptors will provide clues to insight into the molecular mechanism of gustatory coding and the regulation in neuron system, which has been a highlight question in the study of insect--plant interrelationship.