Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
220,782 studies31 sourcesUpdated 35 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BYCell Research

Structural basis of sex pheromone detection in aphids

  • Dong Zhi1
  • Yidong Wang1
  • Yi Tian2,3
  • Zeyuan Guan1
  • Minghui Bai1
  • Bo Zhang1,4
  • Zhongqiang Jia4,3
  • Jinan Wu3
  • Song Cao5
  • Zhou Gong6
  • Xincheng Zhao2
  • Weihua Ma1
3 more authors
  • Bo Wang7
  • Guirong Wang8,9
  • Ping Yin10
10 affiliations
  1. 1National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, College of Bio-X, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
  2. 2Henan International Joint Laboratory of Green Pest Control, College of Plant Protection, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China
  3. 3State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
  4. 4Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Synthetic Biology Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
  5. 5School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
  6. 6Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, China
  7. 7State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China. [email protected]
  8. 8Shenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Synthetic Biology Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. [email protected]
  9. 9State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China. [email protected]
  10. 10National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, College of Bio-X, Hubei Hongshan Laboratory, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei, China. [email protected]
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

Abstract

Sex pheromones play a central role in regulating animal behavior and reproduction. In insects, these signals are perceived through specialized odorant receptors (ORs) that mediate species-specific communication and safeguard genetic integrity. However, the structural basis of sex pheromone detection remains largely unresolved. Here, we identified two ORs in the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum, along with the conserved OR co-receptor (Orco), which together mediate recognition of the pheromone components nepetalactone and nepetalactol. Functional assays demonstrated that ApOR21-Orco and ApOR22-Orco specifically respond to nepetalactol and nepetalactone, respectively. Using cryo-electron microscopy, we resolved the structure of the ApOR22-Orco complex in three states - unbound closed, nepetalactone-bound closed, and nepetalactone-bound open - revealing a heterotetrameric ion channel formed by one ApOR22 and three ApOrco subunits. Ligand binding to ApOR22 triggers conformational rearrangements that induce asymmetric pore dilation, thereby enabling ion conduction. Together, these results provide a mechanistic framework for understanding sex pheromone perception in insects and establish a structural foundation for the rational development of environmentally sustainable pest-control strategies.

Related

  1. SNMP1 Contributes to Sensitive Pheromone and Plant Volatile Detection in the Locust Olfactory System
    Joris Lehmann, Jürgen Krieger, Joerg Fleischer
    International Journal of Molecular SciencesPeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0NeuroscienceCrossref
  2. A pheromone receptor-based diamond biosensor for the detection of the invasive fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda
    Emmanuel Scorsone, Oumaima Zaki, Thuy Nguyen +7
    Biosensors and Bioelectronics: XPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDFull textGeneral biologyHAL
  3. Structural basis of GABA transport by the vesicular inhibitory amino acid transporter VIAAT
    j. Chen, n. Chen, j. Ge +1
    bioRxivPreprintAll rights reservedFull textNeurosciencebioRxiv
  4. Structural basis for the CsrA-dependent modulation of translation initiation by an ancient regulatory protein.
    Altegoer F, Rensing Sa, Bange G
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of AmericaPeer-reviewedLicence not stated39 citedStructural biologyGeneral biologyHAL
  5. Structural and Kinetic Basis for Selective Inhibition of Canine Myeloperoxidase by Staphylococcal Peroxidase Inhibitor (SPIN) Orthologs
    Soheila Fatehi, Timothy J. Herdendorf, Amy Burklund +4
    Journal of Biological ChemistryPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0ImmunologyCrossref

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{zhi2026structural,
  title = {{Structural basis of sex pheromone detection in aphids}},
  author = {Dong Zhi and Yidong Wang and Yi Tian and Zeyuan Guan and Minghui Bai and Bo Zhang and Zhongqiang Jia and Jinan Wu and Song Cao and Zhou Gong and Xincheng Zhao and Weihua Ma and Bo Wang and Guirong Wang and Ping Yin},
  journal = {Cell Research},
  year = {2026},
  month = jun,
  doi = {10.1038/s41422-026-01267-z},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41422-026-01267-z},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Structural basis of sex pheromone detection in aphids
AU  - Dong Zhi
AU  - Yidong Wang
AU  - Yi Tian
AU  - Zeyuan Guan
AU  - Minghui Bai
AU  - Bo Zhang
AU  - Zhongqiang Jia
AU  - Jinan Wu
AU  - Song Cao
AU  - Zhou Gong
AU  - Xincheng Zhao
AU  - Weihua Ma
AU  - Bo Wang
AU  - Guirong Wang
AU  - Ping Yin
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/22
JO  - Cell Research
DO  - 10.1038/s41422-026-01267-z
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41422-026-01267-z
AB  - Sex pheromones play a central role in regulating animal behavior and reproduction. In insects, these signals are perceived through specialized odorant receptors (ORs) that mediate species-specific communication and safeguard genetic integrity. However, the structural basis of sex pheromone detection remains largely unresolved. Here, we identified two ORs in the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum, along with the conserved OR co-receptor (Orco), which together mediate recognition of the pheromone components nepetalactone and nepetalactol. Functional assays demonstrated that ApOR21-Orco and ApOR22-Orco specifically respond to nepetalactol and nepetalactone, respectively. Using cryo-electron microscopy, we resolved the structure of the ApOR22-Orco complex in three states - unbound closed, nepetalactone-bound closed, and nepetalactone-bound open - revealing a heterotetrameric ion channel formed by one ApOR22 and three ApOrco subunits. Ligand binding to ApOR22 triggers conformational rearrangements that induce asymmetric pore dilation, thereby enabling ion conduction. Together, these results provide a mechanistic framework for understanding sex pheromone perception in insects and establish a structural foundation for the rational development of environmentally sustainable pest-control strategies.
SN  - 1001-0602
SN  - 1748-7838
ER  -