ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2014
Niemann-Pick type C2 protein mediating chemical communication in the worker ant.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers.
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39 citing papers in PubMed, 118 citations in OpenAlex.
- The sensory gene repertoire of deep-sea hydrothermal shrimp.PloS one · 2026Article
- Olfactory binding proteins: a review across the Insecta.Frontiers in zoology · 2025Review
- Functional Analysis of NPC2 in Alarm Pheromone Recognition by the Red Imported Fire Ant,Insects · 2025Article
- Smelly communication between haemaphysalis longicornis and infected hosts with indolic odorants: A case from severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
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- Role of lipid binding protein, Niemann pick type C-2, in enhancing shrimp sperm physiological function.Heliyon · 2025Article
- Evolutionary Genomics of Gene Families: A Case Study of Insect Gustatory Receptors.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025Article
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- Niemann-Pick Type C2 Proteins inInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Current Knowledge on Chemosensory-Related Candidate Molecules Potentially Involved in Tick Olfaction via Haller's Organ.Insects · 2023Review
- Expression and functional analysis of Niemann-Pick C2 gene in Phytoseiulus persimilis.Experimental & applied acarology · 2023Article
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- The genome of the rice planthopper egg parasitoid wasps Anagrus nilaparvatae casts light on the chemo- and mechanosensation in parasitism.BMC genomics · 2022Article
- Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Early Hemocyte Responses upon In Vivo Stimulation with LPS in the Stick InsectInsects · 2022Article
- Transcriptome analysis and molecular characterization of soluble chemical communication proteins in the parasitoid waspEcology and evolution · 2022Article
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- Dynamic neurogenomic responses to social interactions and dominance outcomes in female paper wasps.PLoS genetics · 2021Article
- The Odorant-Binding Proteins of the Spider MiteInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2021Article
- A new non-classical fold of varroa odorant-binding proteins reveals a wide open internal cavity.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Lipocalins in Arthropod Chemical Communication.Genome biology and evolution · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Ants are eusocial insects that are found in most regions of the world. Within its caste, worker ants are responsible for various tasks that are required for colony maintenance. In their chemical communication, α-helical carrier proteins, odorant-binding proteins, and chemosensory proteins, which accumulate in the sensillum lymph in the antennae, play essential roles in transferring hydrophobic semiochemicals to chemosensory receptors. It has been hypothesized that semiochemicals are recognized by α-helical carrier proteins. The number of these proteins, however, is not sufficient to interact with a large number of semiochemicals estimated from chemosensory receptor genes. Here we shed light on this conundrum by identifying a Niemann-Pick type C2 (NPC2) protein from the antenna of the worker Japanese carpenter ant, Camponotus japonicus (CjapNPC2). CjapNPC2 accumulated in the sensillum cavity in the basiconic sensillum. The ligand-binding pocket of CjapNPC2 was composed of a flexible β-structure that allowed it to bind to a wide range of potential semiochemicals. Some of the semiochemicals elicited electrophysiolgical responses in the worker antenna. In vertebrates, NPC2 acts as an essential carrier protein for cholesterol from late endosomes and lysosomes to other cellular organelles. However, the ants have evolved an NPC2 with a malleable ligand-binding pocket as a moderately selective carrier protein in the sensillum cavity of the basiconic sensillum. CjapNPC2 might be able to deliver various hydrophobic semiochemicals to chemosensory receptor neurons and plays crucial roles in chemical communication required to perform the worker ant tasks.
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