The red palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus in the omics and post-genomic eras

The red palm weevil (RPW) Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) is palm trees’ most destructive and invasive insect pest. However, the molecular bases of its ecology and behavior are still poorly understood. Recently, valuable transcriptomic and genomic resources have been cumulated on this species, with the objective to understand important traits of the life of the RPW. These omics resources led to the annotation of numerous genes involved in important biological functions, such as immunity, detoxification, digestion, and chemo reception. In particular, the identification of the principal chemosensory gene families coupled to functional studies led to start deciphering the molecular bases of the RPW chemosensation, especially its pheromone communication. This mini-review describes these recent advances, focusing on olfactory detection, and highlights how they could be used to optimize the RPW control.