Objective To study the sensory neuron membrane proteins (SNMPs) in Tropidothorax elegans.

Method The SNMP genes were cloned by PCR, and the expression of these genes were analyzed by fluorescence quantitative PCR.

Result Two SNMPs genes of T. elegans, named as TeleSNMP1 and TeleSNMP2, were cloned and identified for the first time by RT-PCR. Sequence analysis showed that the TeleSNMP1 encoding area was 1 497 bp in length, encoding 498 aa. The TeleSNMP2 encoding area was 1 686 bp in length, encoding 561 aa. The isoelectric points of these two genes were 8.26 and 7.05, respectively. Homology analysis showed that the consistency of SNMPs genes in insects of the same order was high, while the consistency of different order was low, and the sequence consistency between TeleSNMP1 and TeleSNMP2 was extremely low. The evolutionary tree results also showed that the evolutionary relationship of SNMPs genes in insects of the same order was rather close. Quantitative real-time PCR showed that TeleSNMP1 was antennae-biased, whereas TeleSNMP2 was expressed in female and male antennae but was also expressed in nonantennal tissues.

Conclusion The results provide a useful reference for future studies on the function of the T. elegans SNMPs gene.