Trichoid sensilla ( Figure 1C) in many insects, including vinegar flies and most (if not all) moths, house OSNs tuned to pheromones ( van der Goes van Naters

and Carlson, 2007 and Kaissling et al., 1989). However, whether the trichoid structure itself is advantageous for the detection of this type of chemicals is uncertain. Likewise, OSNs housed in coeloconic sensilla ( Figure 1G) respond BVD-523 clinical trial mostly to water-soluble amines and acids (see below), but what role, if any, the actual coeloconic architecture play is unknown. The peripheral olfactory system of insects shows a remarkable morphological diversity at all levels. The role of this diversity remains unclear but probably reflects selection pressures for high sensitivity, phylogenetic and/or developmental constraints, and imposed by the physical environment, rather than adaptations to detect specific volatile chemicals. The odor molecules pass through pores or slits in the sensillum cuticle and enter the sensillum lymph (Steinbrecht, 1997). From here on, the typically hydrophobic chemicals that constitute odor ligands on land interact

with members from multiple gene families, of which only two will be discussed here. The MLN8237 supplier odor molecules initially bind to so-called odorant binding proteins (OBPs, Vogt and Riddiford, 1981). OBPs are secreted in large quantities by support cells surrounding the OSNs and show specific binding properties (Swarup et al., 2011). Although their exact function remains to be elucidated (but see Laughlin et al., 2008, for their role in pheromone communication), these proteins are probably involved in transporting the odor ligands to the receptor sites, situated in the dendritic membrane of the OSNs. The OBPs form a large insect-exclusive gene family with conserved structure, but which otherwise shows

a high degree of sequence diversity. The OBP family is possibly as old as the insects themselves, having evolved in response to demands imposed by the conquest of land (Vieira and Rozas, 2011, but see Forêt and Maleszka, 2006). So-called odorant binding proteins are also found in vertebrates; these, however, belong to the lipocalin family and show no structural similarity to the insect OBPs (Bianchet et al., 1996). The OBP family in the vinegar fly comprises 51 Calpain members (Hekmat-Scafe et al., 2002), and similar numbers have been found in other insects so far investigated. Although subfamilies can be discerned within the OBP family, examination of these genes across broader taxonomic range reveals that the OBPs largely cluster according to phylogeny, with groupings representing independent, lineage specific radiations of specific OBPs. Clear orthologs, present across different insect orders, are hence essentially lacking (Vieira and Rozas, 2011). Analyses of the OBP repertoires from the 12 complete Drosophila spp.