Identification of the odorant binding proteins of Western Flower Thrips (), characterization and binding analysis of with molecular modelling, molecular dynamics simulations and a confirmatory field trial.

Olfactory systems are indispensable for insects as they, including Western Flower Thrips (), use olfactory cues for ovipositing and feeding. use odorant binding proteins (OBPs) to transport semiochemicals to odorant receptors to induce a behavioural response from the sensillum lymph of the insect's antennae. This study identifies four OBPs of and analyses their expression at three stages of growth: larvae, adult males and adult females. Further, it investigates the presence of conserved motifs and their phylogenetic relationship to other insect species. Moreover, was characterized to analyse its structure along with molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations to understand its binding with semiochemicals of . Molecular docking revealed the interactions of methyl isonicotinate, p-anisaldehyde and (S)-(-)-verbenone with . Moreover, molecular dynamics simulations showed bonding stability of these ligands with and field trials validated that Lurem TR (commercial product) and p-anisaldehyde had greater attraction as compared to (S)-(-)-verbenone, given the compound's binding with . The current study helps in understanding the tertiary structure and interaction of with lures using computational and field data and will help in the identification of novel lures of insects in the future, given the importance of binding with OBPs.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.