Loxostege sticticalis cultivar:Sugarbeet Raw sequence reads

The beet webworm, Loxostege sticticalis L.(Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), a worldwide distributed and migratory pest in North China, causes serious economic damage every year. L. sticticalis, in the larval stage, is polyphagous. However, this worm has an obvious host-plant selection for crops (sugar beet, potato and soybean) and pastures because of the highly developed olfactory system to detect and distinguish the host-plant volatiles. Olfaction is extremely important for insect survival because this sense plays a pivotal role in mediating key behaviors such as host-plant preference, mate choice, and oviposition site selection. In insects, some proteins in the olfactory organ can capture host-plant volatiles to guide pests to the location of host plants, especially the odorant receptors, ionotropic receptors and odorant binding proteins, which ensure the specificity of the olfactory sensory neuron responses. Our findings will provide the basic knowledge for further studies on the molecular mechanisms of the olfactory system of L. sticticalis and potential novel targets for pest control strategies.