Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
203,948 studies31 sourcesUpdated 23 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDCurrent research in insect science

CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-out of abnormal chemosensory jump 6 (acj6) gene impacts Helicoverpa armigera antennal lobe structure.

  • Guiying Xie1
  • Shuting Chen1
  • Longlong Sun1,2
  • Xi Chu3
  • Jing Lu1
  • Muhammad Lubaid Khalid1
  • Rongmei Lin1
  • Wenbo Chen1
  • Xincheng Zhao1
  1. 1State Key Laboratory of High-Efficiency Production of Wheat-Maize Double Cropping/Henan International Joint Laboratory of Green Pest Control, College of Plant Protection, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China.
  2. 2Office of Laboratory and Equipment Management, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China.
  3. 3Chemosensory Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway.
Read full textPDFDOICite

Abstract

The specificity of the olfactory system in the brain is determined not only by the expression of odorant receptor genes but also by the specific neural circuit assembly within the antennal lobe (AL). To investigate the developmental role of abnormal chemosensory jump 6 (acj6) in the moth Helicoverpa armigera, we generated Haacj6 mutants using CRISPR/Cas9 and examined the detailed structure of the AL based on immunostaining and three-dimensional reconstruction. The results showed that the AL in male Haacj6 mutants was markedly enlarged. In both sexes, the AL of Haacj6 mutants contained approximately 100 glomeruli, compared with about 75 glomeruli in wild-type. Glomerular volumes were also more heterogeneous in the mutants: the largest glomeruli were expanded, whereas the smallest were reduced, although the mean glomerular volume remained unchanged. These results demonstrate that the Haacj6 gene plays a critical role in normal AL development and that AL enlargement in the mutants arises primarily from the presence of additional glomeruli. These additional glomeruli likely reflect defects in olfactory receptor neuron axon wiring to AL projection neurons, or glial mediated glomerular boundary formation. These findings indicate that acj6 is an essential regulator of AL architecture and provide crucial insights into the molecular mechanisms governing neural circuits assembly in insects.

Related

  1. Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) as an elicitor enhances tomato resistance through ROS and digestive enzyme inhibition against Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)
    Raheleh Jahanbin-Navrod, Reza Shirzadian-Khorramabad, Arash Zibaee +1
    Scientific ReportsPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Full textZoology & animal behaviourCrossref
  2. Sublethal effects of matrine and neemarin on the demography of Habrobracon hebetor developing on treated Helicoverpa armigera larvae
    Samaneh Akbari, Shahram Aramideh
    Scientific ReportsPeer-reviewedCC BYFull textZoology & animal behaviourDOAJ
  3. An expansive internal chemosensory system in the insect abdomen implicates Gustatory Receptors in diverse aspects of interoception
    S. Fujii, H. Amrein
    bioRxivPreprintAll rights reservedFull textNeurosciencebioRxiv
  4. Host‐Associated Differentiation in a Parasitoid Wasp Connected to Venom‐Related but Not Chemosensory Genes
    Xuyue Yang, Marco Fracassetti, Tanja Slotte +2
    Molecular ecologyPeer-reviewedCC BYFull textGenetics & genomicsEurope PMC
  5. Whole-brain chemosensory responses of both C. elegans sexes
    Maedeh Seyedolmohadesin, Xingyang Fu, Mahdi Torkashvand +8
    Current BiologyPeer-reviewedLicence not stated5 citedNeuroscienceOpenAlex

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{xie2026crisprcas9mediated,
  title = {{CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-out of abnormal chemosensory jump 6 (acj6) gene impacts Helicoverpa armigera antennal lobe structure.}},
  author = {Guiying Xie and Shuting Chen and Longlong Sun and Xi Chu and Jing Lu and Muhammad Lubaid Khalid and Rongmei Lin and Wenbo Chen and Xincheng Zhao},
  journal = {Current research in insect science},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1016/j.cris.2026.100135},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42960179},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-out of abnormal chemosensory jump 6 (acj6) gene impacts Helicoverpa armigera antennal lobe structure.
AU  - Guiying Xie
AU  - Shuting Chen
AU  - Longlong Sun
AU  - Xi Chu
AU  - Jing Lu
AU  - Muhammad Lubaid Khalid
AU  - Rongmei Lin
AU  - Wenbo Chen
AU  - Xincheng Zhao
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/08
JO  - Current research in insect science
DO  - 10.1016/j.cris.2026.100135
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42960179
AB  - The specificity of the olfactory system in the brain is determined not only by the expression of odorant receptor genes but also by the specific neural circuit assembly within the antennal lobe (AL). To investigate the developmental role of abnormal chemosensory jump 6 (acj6) in the moth Helicoverpa armigera, we generated Haacj6 mutants using CRISPR/Cas9 and examined the detailed structure of the AL based on immunostaining and three-dimensional reconstruction. The results showed that the AL in male Haacj6 mutants was markedly enlarged. In both sexes, the AL of Haacj6 mutants contained approximately 100 glomeruli, compared with about 75 glomeruli in wild-type. Glomerular volumes were also more heterogeneous in the mutants: the largest glomeruli were expanded, whereas the smallest were reduced, although the mean glomerular volume remained unchanged. These results demonstrate that the Haacj6 gene plays a critical role in normal AL development and that AL enlargement in the mutants arises primarily from the presence of additional glomeruli. These additional glomeruli likely reflect defects in olfactory receptor neuron axon wiring to AL projection neurons, or glial mediated glomerular boundary formation. These findings indicate that acj6 is an essential regulator of AL architecture and provide crucial insights into the molecular mechanisms governing neural circuits assembly in insects.
SN  - 2666-5158
ER  -