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Insights into a receptor that lets insects sense scents

In insects, odorant receptor proteins form membrane ion channels that open on binding to an odorant molecule. The structures of an inactive and an active channel lend insights into how insects detect and distinguish between odours.
  1. Emily R. Liman

    1. Emily R. Liman is in the Section of Neurobiology, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA.

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As we apply insect repellents in an effort to thwart insect-borne diseases, we might stop to wonder how these substances work and why they are not more effective. DEET, the compound most commonly used in insect repellents, is thought to broadly activate insects’ odorant receptor proteins, scrambling the olfactory code the insects use for seeking a host1. But how DEET or natural odorant molecules bind to and affect the activity of insect odorant receptors has not been clear. Writing in Nature, del Mármol et al.2 report the structure of an insect odorant receptor in association with DEET or with the odorant eugenol, thereby providing key insights into how odorants bind to the receptor and how the structure of the activated receptor subsequently changes.

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Nature 597, 37-39 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02076-7

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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