Reverse chemical ecology in a moth: machine learning on odorant receptors identifies new behaviorally active agonists.

The concept of reverse chemical ecology (exploitation of molecular knowledge for chemical ecology) has recently emerged in conservation biology and human health. Here, we extend this concept to crop protection. Targeting odorant receptors from a crop pest insect, the noctuid moth Spodoptera littoralis, we demonstrate that reverse chemical ecology has the potential to accelerate the discovery of novel crop pest insect attractants and repellents.