부산대학교 도서관

Insects can detect various odorants with high sensitivity and selectivity in accordance with their habitat. The selection of appropriate odorant receptors (ORs) in insect species can enable the detection of target odors. In this study, we developed a sensing element that detects human-derived odorants by functionally expressing insect ORs in Sf21 cells. Using a database of olfactory responses, we selected target ORs from two insect species, i.e., Drosophila melanogaster and Anopheles gambiae, for introduction into Sf21 cells along with the calcium-sensitive fluorescent protein gene GCaMP6s. Based on calcium imaging, Sf21 cells expressing DmelOR13a responded to the human-derived odorant 1-octen-3-ol and Sf21 cells expressing AgamOR16 responded to the human aging-related odorant Z2-nonenal. These results indicate that target odorants can be effectively detected by selecting optimal insect ORs based on response characteristic data, suggesting the potential to extend the scope of ORs used for sensing technologies to diverse insect species.