Find in Library

<i>Empoasca onukii</i> Matsuda is a primary pest of the tea plant <i>Camellia sinensis</i> (L.) O. Ktze that severely influences the production and quality of tea products. Gustatory receptors (GRs) are an indispensable part of the <i>E. onukii</i> chemosensory machinery as members of the G-protein coupled receptor family. Insect odor and gustatory receptors are consumingly sensitive and selective sensory receptors to search for foraging, mates, and spawning sites. In this study, the gustatory receptor <i>EonuGR1</i> was cloned and analyzed bioinformatically, and the expression levels of <i>EonuGR1</i> in diverse tissues of <i>E. onukii</i> were tested via qRT-PCR. The behavioral response of <i>E. onukii</i> to volatile compounds was determined via RNA interference and Y-tube olfactometer assays to investigate the role of <i>EonuGR1</i> in the olfactory recognition of <i>E. onukii</i>. The coding sequence length of <i>EonuGR1</i> was 1062 bp, and the length of the protein encoded by <i>EonuGR1</i> was 40.52 kD. The highest interference efficiency was observed after 3 h of dsEonuGR1 treatment via root soak treatment. Moreover, the response rates to phenylacetaldehyde at concentrations of 10 and 0.1 µL/mL were significantly downregulated in <i>E. onukii</i>. The responses to phenylacetaldehyde at concentrations of 10 and 100 µL/mL showed a significant decrease after dsEonuGR1 treatment for 12 h in <i>E. onukii</i>. In conclusion, <i>EonuGR1</i> was highly expressed in the abdomen and functioned in olfactory recognition of the tea plant volatile phenylacetaldehyde by <i>E. onukii</i>. Overall, <i>EonuGR1</i> has the potential as a gene target for the design of effective control strategies against <i>E. onukii</i>.