The chemoreceptor genes of the waterflea Daphnia pulex: many Grs but no Ors

This repertoire of 58 chemoreceptors presumably mediates the many chemoperception abilities of waterfleas. While it is always possible that the entire Or gene lineage was lost at some point in the history of Daphnia pulex, we think it more likely that the insect Or lineage is indeed a relatively recently expanded gene lineage concomitant with the evolution of terrestriality in the insects or their hexapod ancestors.