昆虫嗅觉系统在其寻找寄主、交配和产卵等行为中发挥重要作用。气味结合蛋白（OBPs）参与化学信息素的识别，OBPs识别结合气味分子并将其运送至嗅觉神经元上的气味受体。异色瓢虫（鞘翅目：瓢甲科）作为重要的生防天敌被广泛用于防治多种农林业害虫。本研究中，从异色瓢虫成虫触角和整虫转录组中共鉴定到19个OBP基因，所有OBP基因均具有全长开放阅读框，其编码蛋白中11个属于‘Classic’OBPs，7 个属于‘Minus-C’OBPs ，1 个属于‘Plus-C’OBP。它们编码125-241个氨基酸，相对分子量为13.74KDa-27.75 KDa，等电点范围为4.15-8.80。利用系统发育分析研究了异色瓢虫气味结合蛋白与其他鞘翅目昆虫气味结合蛋白的关系。荧光定量PCR结果表明HaxyOBP2，3，5，8，10，12，13，14和15在雌雄成虫触角中高表达；其中HaxyOBP2，3，5，12和15在触角中的表达量显著高于其他组织，HaxyOBP13和HaxyOBP14在触角和头部的表达量相当，而其他基因在胸、腹、足和翅等非嗅觉组织中高表达。本研究结果为进一步探究异色瓢虫嗅觉系统提供了有价值信息，并将增强异色瓢虫作为生防天敌的应用效果。

(E)-β-Caryophyllene is a sesquiterpene compound widely distributed in plants and functions in plant defence.  However, little is known about the sequence and function of (E)-β-caryophyllene synthase in lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus).  Here, we report a new full-length cDNA (PlCAHS) encoding (E)-β-caryophyllene synthase, a possible key enzyme of plant defence.  The cDNA of PlCAHS contains an open reading frame of 1 761 bp, encoding a protein of 586 amino acids with a predicted mass of 67.95 kDa.  The deduced amino acid sequence shows 52% identity with sesquiterpene synthase MtCAHS of Medicago truncatula.  Based on phylogenetic analysis, PlCAHS is classified as the terpene synthases (TPS)-a subfamily.  The recombinant enzyme, expressed in Escherichia coli, catalysed the formation of a major product (E)-β-caryophyllene (82%) and a minor product α-humulene (18%) from farnesyl diphosphate.  Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis found that the PlCAHS transcript was significantly up-regulated in leaves after treatment with spider mites and alamethicin (ALA), suggesting its ecological function in plant defence.  

English grain aphid (EGA) is a destructive insect pest of wheat. To identify the loci associated with EGA resistance and tolerance, 70 bread wheat accessions mainly from central Asia were evaluated for EGA resistance and tolerance traits at two locations, and genotyped with 51 SSR markers. Totally, three accessions showed high or moderate levels resistance and 17 genotypes displayed highly or moderately tolerate to EGA. Genetic diversity of these lines was investigated also. After 97 SSR loci which evenly covered all wheat chromosomes were scanned for association, four SSR loci were significantly associated with EGA resistance and four with EGA tolerance. After association analysis was conducted with dynamic aphid densities, we found four loci Xgwm192b, Xgwm391, Xbarc98, and Xgwm613b were detected continuously at different growing stages of wheat. In addition, the loci of EGA resistance/tolerance and Russian wheat aphid resistance were compared. The results generated in this study would be helpful for utilization of the EGA resistance/tolerance germplasm, and for development of mapping populations in EGA resistance breeding programs.