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A natural polymorphism alters odour and DEET sensitivity in an insect odorant receptor

Author

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  • Maurizio Pellegrino

    (Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behaviour, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, Box 63
    Present addresses: Department of Molecular & Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 USA (M.P.); Integrated PhD Program in Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Studies, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA (N.S.).)

  • Nicole Steinbach

    (Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behaviour, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, Box 63
    Present addresses: Department of Molecular & Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 USA (M.P.); Integrated PhD Program in Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Studies, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA (N.S.).)

  • Marcus C. Stensmyr

    (Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans Knöll Strasse 8)

  • Bill S. Hansson

    (Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans Knöll Strasse 8)

  • Leslie B. Vosshall

    (Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behaviour, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, Box 63
    Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, Box 63)

Abstract

Confusant activity of DEET The insect repellant DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) efficiently deters disease-propagating insects, but whether it broadly blocks their odour recognition or selectively activates olfactory neurons that drive avoidance behaviour has been controversial. Leslie Vosshall and colleagues have now found a single amino-acid change in the olfactory receptor protein Or59b of a Brazilian strain of fruitfly, which renders it insensitive to its odour ligand and to DEET. DEET is shown to act as a 'confusant', scrambling the insect odour code; this explains why it is effective against a broad range of insect species.

Suggested Citation

  • Maurizio Pellegrino & Nicole Steinbach & Marcus C. Stensmyr & Bill S. Hansson & Leslie B. Vosshall, 2011. "A natural polymorphism alters odour and DEET sensitivity in an insect odorant receptor," Nature, Nature, vol. 478(7370), pages 511-514, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:478:y:2011:i:7370:d:10.1038_nature10438
    DOI: 10.1038/nature10438
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    Cited by:

    1. Edmund J. Norris & Joel R. Coats, 2017. "Current and Future Repellent Technologies: The Potential of Spatial Repellents and Their Place in Mosquito-Borne Disease Control," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-15, January.
    2. Pranjul Singh & Shefali Goyal & Smith Gupta & Sanket Garg & Abhinav Tiwari & Varad Rajput & Alexander Shakeel Bates & Arjit Kant Gupta & Nitin Gupta, 2023. "Combinatorial encoding of odors in the mosquito antennal lobe," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-19, December.

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