Comparative analyses of odorant binding protein orthologues in three sympatric Tomicus bark beetles provide insights into functional differentiation of OBPs to ecologically relevant odorants and insecticides.

Three Tomicus bark beetles (T. yunnanensis, T. brevipilosus and T.

Functional characterization of four antenna-enriched odorant binding proteins in Rhaphuma horsfieldi reveals the importance of RhorOBP1 in odorant recognition and insecticide resistance.

The cerambycid beetles are key players for the sustenance of biodiversity in the forest ecosystem, but in most cases are well known due to their harmfulness to agricultural and forest plants. Here, we characterized the odorant binding protein (OBP) gene family in Rhaphuma horsfieldi, emphasizing the roles of RhorOBP1 in odorant reception and insecticide sequestering. A homology-based search led to the identification of 35 RhorOBP genes with a major distribution in the Minus-C OBPs clade (21/35 genes).