Odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) and chemosensory proteins (CSPs) are regarded as carriers of pheromones and odorants in insect chemoreception. Most studies on both classes of proteins have focused on their activity within the insect chemosensory system, trying to understand their role in detecting and recognizing environmental chemical stimuli. However, there is much more to these highly efficient proteins, that in recent years have been reported to be endowed with different functions in non-sensory organs of the insect body, such as pheromone delivery, solubilization of nutrients, development and insecticide resistance. Recently, Dr. WANG Guirong and is team published a review paper on Biological Reviews about the diverse tasks of soluble OBPs and CSPs in insects.

In this review, they summarized aspects of structures, physiological functions and evolutions in both reported OBPs and CSPs, and discussed their proposed modes of action in different organs of the insect. In some cases, the same proteins are expressed in antennae and pheromone glands, thus performing a dual role in receiving and broadcasting the same chemical message. Several reports have described OBPs and CSPs in reproductive organs. Some of these proteins are male specific and are transferred to females during mating. Both OBPs and CSPs are also important in nutrition as solubilizers of lipids, resistance to insecticides and eggshell formation. Finally, they considered prospective uses of these proteins in odor-detection devices, as suggested by their versatility and exceptional structural stability. This paper fully illustrated biological functions and many research progresses of both OBPs and CSPs, and largely enriched the development of biological disciplines of chemosensory gene families.

Functions other than chemoreception reported for insect OBPs and CSPs

More details are available on the bellow link:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/brv.12339/full

By Guirong Wang
grwang@ippcaas.cn