Supplementary material from "An odorant binding protein functions in fire ant social immunity, interfacing with innate immunity"
Posted on 2025-02-01 - 09:55
Social immunity mediated sanitation behaviors occur in insects when microbially killed corpses are removed and/or dismembered by healthy nestmate. Little, however, is known concerning the signal or receptor proteins that mediate these responses. Here, we identify cuticular components in the eusocial red important fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, namely, behenic acid that induces dismemberment behavior, and oleic and cis,cis-9,12-linoleic acids which inhibit dismemberment in a process mediated by S. invicta odorant binding protein-15 (SiOBP15). Yeast-two hybrid and protein-protein interaction analyses identified the immunity related proteins, apolipophorin-III (SiApoLp-III) and fatty acid binding protein-5 (SiFABP5), as SiOBP15 interacting partners. SiOBP15 and SiFABP5 bound all three dismemberment-related compounds, whereas interactions between SiOBP15 and SiApoLp-III narrowed binding to behenic acid. RNAi mediated gene expression knockdown of SiOBP15, SiApoLp-III, or SiFABP5 indicated that behenic acid chemoreception determines dismemberment behavior via SiApoLp-III/SiOBP15, whereas SiOBP15 or SiOBP15/SiFABP5 recognition of linoleic acid inhibits dismemberment behavior. These data identify a host circuit linking olfactory proteins to innate immunity related proteins to control the degree of sanitation behavior elicited in response to microbial infection. We identify specific chemical cues transduced by these proteins, providing a mechanism of connecting olfaction-related processes to innate immunity, host-pathogen interactions, and social immunity.
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Zhang, Wei; Chen, Xuanyu; Tian, Jiaxin; Schal, Coby; Mohamed, Amr; Zang, Liansheng; et al. (2025). Supplementary material from "An odorant binding protein functions in fire ant social immunity, interfacing with innate immunity". The Royal Society. Collection. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.7653691.v1