RNA interference of β1 integrin subunit impairs development and immune responses of the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua

Integrin is a cell surface protein that is composed of α and β heterodimer and mediates cell interaction with extracellular matrix or other cells including microbial pathogens. A full length cDNA sequence (2862 bp) of a β1 subunit integrin (βSe1) was cloned from the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua. Phylogenetic analysis showed that βSe1 was clustered with other insect β integrin subunits with the highest amino acid sequence identity (98.3%) to β1 of Spodoptera litura. Structural analysis of the deduced amino acid sequence indicated that βSe1 possessed all functional domains known in other insect β1 integrins. RT-PCR analysis showed that βSe1 was expressed in all developmental stages and all tested tissues of S. exigua. Its expression was further upregulated in hemocytes by injections of various microbes from quantitative RT-PCR analysis. Injection of double-stranded βSe1 RNA (dsRNA^βSe1) into late instar S. exigua suppressed βSe1 expression and resulted in significant reduction in pupal weight. The dsRNA^βSe1 injection significantly impaired hemocyte-spreading and nodule formation of S. exigua in response to bacterial challenge. Furthermore, oral ingestion of dsRNA^βSe1 induced reduction of βSe1 expression in midgut and resulted in significant mortality of S. exigua during immature development. These results suggest that βSe1 plays crucial roles in performing cellular immune responses as well as larval development in S. exigua.     

In silico annotation of unreviewed acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in some lepidopteran insect pest species reveals the causes of insecticide resistance

Lepidoptera is the second most diverse insect order outnumbered only by the Coeleptera. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is the major target site for insecticides. Extensive use of insecticides, to inhibit the function of this enzyme, have resulted in the development of insecticide resistance. Complete knowledge of the target proteins is very important to know the cause of resistance. Computational annotation of insect acetylcholinesterase can be helpful for the characterization of this important protein. Acetylcholinesterase of fourteen lepidopteran insect pest species was annotated by using different bioinformatics tools. AChE in all the species was hydrophilic and thermostable. All the species showed lower values for instability index except L. orbonalis, S. exigua and T. absoluta. Highest percentage of Arg, Asp, Asn, Gln and Cys were recorded in P. rapae. High percentage of Cys and Gln might be reason for insecticide resistance development in P. rapae. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the AChE in T. absoluta, L. orbonalis and S. exigua are closely related and emerged from same primary branch. Three functional motifs were predicted in eleven species while only two were found in L. orbonalis, S. exigua and T. absoluta. AChE in eleven species followed secretory pathway and have signal peptides. No signal peptides were predicted for S. exigua, L. orbonalis and T. absoluta and follow non secretory pathway. Arginine methylation and cysteine palmotylation was found in all species except S. exigua, L. orbonalis and T. absoluta. Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor was predicted in only nine species.     

云杉NBS-LRR基因的克隆与表达分析

为深入研究NBS-LRR基因在川西云杉(Picea balfouriana)抗落针病过程中的分子作用机制,该研究根据GenBank数据库中其他植物NBS-LRR基因保守序列设计引物,利用RT-PCR技术,克隆云杉NBS-LRR基因全长cDNA序列(PbNBS-LRR),分析该基因及其编码蛋白的相关信息并进行基因表达研究。结果表明:(1)成功获得PbNBS-LRR基因的全长2 616 bp(基因登录号:MK044348),且包含一个2 508 bp的完整阅读框(ORF),共编码836个氨基酸,其氨基酸序列具有NBS-LRR类抗病基因典型的NB-ARC结构域和LRR结构域。(2)云杉PbNBS-LRR与北美云杉(Picea sitchensis)NBS-LRR类抗病蛋白相似性最高,达到98%;分子进化分析进一步表明,PbNBS-LRR与北美云杉NBS-LRR亲缘关系最近,其次为糖松(Pinus lambertiana)和火炬松(Pinus taeda)。(3)qRT-PCR分析表明,NBS-LRR基因在川西云杉、粗枝云杉(Picea asperata)和丽江云杉(Picea likiangensis)的根、树干韧皮部、嫩枝及针叶中均有表达,在川西云杉和粗枝云杉的根部以及丽江云杉的树干韧皮部中表达量最高;在落针病病原菌侵染川西云杉和粗枝云杉的初期(5月)以及丽江云杉的后期(9月),NBS-LRR基因的表达量最高,分别为对照的1.73倍、2.11倍和90.49倍,表明NBS-LRR基因参与了云杉落针病的防御反应。     

Host range and gene contents of Bacillus thuringiensis strains toxic towards Spodoptera exigua

Thirty-five strains of the entomopathogenic bacterium Bacillus thuringiensisactive on Spodoptera exigua, were characterized by means of serological identification and determination of crygene contents by PCR. The insecticidal activity of these 35 strains was further confirmed against S. exiguaand tested against two other species of the same genus: S. littoralisand S. frugiperda. The results indicate that serovars aizawai, thuringiensis, and kurstakiwere the most frequent within S. exigua-active strains and that serovar aizawaihad the highest number of strains exhibiting toxicity against the three species bioassayed. The presence in crygenes as determined by PCR suggests a non random distribution of some crygenes among serovars. Genes cry1C, cry1D, and cry1E, which are known to code for proteins toxic against Spodopteraspecies, were very common within S. exigua-active strains, specially in those belonging to serovar aizawai. However, some strains harbouring one or more of these genes were not toxic to S. littoralisor S. frugiperda; and some strains lacking all of the Spodoptera-active genes were found to be toxic to all three species. This suggests differences in the expression levels among strains bearing toxic genes and the involvement of other genes toxic to Spodopteraspecies. Since strains sharing the same crygenes exhibited different host ranges, the results indicate the need to perform toxicity bioassays in addition to other tests (serological identification and PCR) in order to determine the insecticidal activity of B. thuringiensisstrains.     

Down‐regulation of a chitin synthase a gene by RNA interference enhances pathogenicity of Beauveria bassiana ANU1 against Spodoptera exigua (HÜBNER)

Chitin synthase (CHS) is an important enzymatic component, which is required for chitin formation in the cuticles and cuticular linings of other tissues in insects. CHSs have been divided into two classes, classes A and B, based on their amino acid sequence similarities and functions. Class A CHS (CHS‐A) is specifically expressed in the epidermis and related ectodermal cells such as tracheal cells, while class B CHS (CHS‐B) is expressed in gut epithelial cells that produce peritrophic matrices. In this study, we cloned the CHS‐A gene from the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (SeCHS‐A). The SeCHS‐A contains an open reading frame of 4,698 nucleotides, encoding a protein of 1,565 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of approximately 177.8 kDa. The SeCHS‐A mRNA was expressed in all developmental stages and specifically in the epidermis and tracheae tissue by quantitative real‐time‐PCR analysis. Expression of SeCHS‐A gene was suppressed by feeding double‐stranded RNA (dsCHS‐A, 400 ng/larva) in the third instar larvae of S. exigua. Suppression of the SeCHS‐A gene expression significantly increased 35% of mortality on pupation of S. exigua. Also, the third instar larvae fed with dsCHS‐A significantly increased susceptibility to entomopathogenic fungi, Beauveria bassiana ANU1 at 3 days after treatment. These results suggest that the SeCHS‐A gene plays an important role in development of S. exigua and RNA interference may apply to effective pest control with B. bassiana.     

棉蚜2个乙酰胆碱酯酶cDNA片段的基因克隆与序列分析

采用RT－PCR技术,利用简并引物从棉蚜（Aphis gossypii Glover)中克隆出2个乙酰胆碱酯酶基因的cDNA片段,Ag,ace 1l和Ag.ace2.Ag.ace1基因的cDNA片段为282bp,编码94个氨基酸;Ag.ace2基因的cDNA片段为264bp,编码88个氨基酸。扩增获得的2个乙酰胆碱酯酶基因cDNA片段所编码的氨基酸序列均与其他昆虫的乙酰胆碱酯酶基因有很高的同源性。首次从一种昆虫中克隆出2个乙酰胆碱酯酶基因片段,为同一种昆虫中存在多个乙酰胆碱酯酶基因的假设提供了直接的分子生物学证据。     

Identification of Bacillus thuringiensis Delta-Endotoxin Cry1C Domain III Amino Acid Residues Involved in Insect Specificity

Cry1C domain III amino acid residues involved in specificity for beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua) were identified. For this purpose, intradomain III hybrids between Cry1E (nontoxic) and Cry1E-Cry1C hybrid G27 (toxic) were made. Crossover points of these hybrids defined six sequence blocks containing between 1 and 19 of the amino acid differences between Cry1E and G27. Blocks B, C, D, and E of G27 were shown to be required for optimal activity against S. exigua. Block E was also required for optimal activity against the tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta), whereas block D had a negative effect on toxicity for this insect. The mutagenesis of individual amino acids in block B identified Trp-476 as the only amino acid in this block essential, although not sufficient by itself, for full S. exigua activity. In block D, we identified a seven-amino-acid insertion in G27 that was not in Cry1E. The deletion of either one of two groups of four consecutive amino acids in this insertion completely abolished activity against S. exigua but resulted in higher activity against M. sexta. Alanine substitutions of the first group had little effect on toxicity, whereas alanine substitutions of the second group had the same effect as its deletion. These results identify groups of amino acids as well as some individual residues in Cry1C domain III, which are strongly involved in S. exigua-specific activity as well as sometimes involved in M. sexta-specific activity.     

甘蓝型油菜BnMYC2基因克隆及对植物抗虫胁迫的研究

为了研究髓细胞组织增生蛋白(Myelocytomatosis protein,MYC2)基因与甘蓝型油菜抗虫性的关系,该研究从甘蓝型油菜恢复系R18中克隆获得BnMYC2基因的cDNA序列,并进行了基因表达及转化模式植物拟南芥的抗虫分析。生物信息学分析表明,BnMYC2基因gDNA不具有内含子结构,cDNA完整开放阅读框(ORF)为1 833 bp,编码610个氨基酸,推测BnMYC2基因位于甘蓝型油菜C6染色体上,具有bHLH型转录因子的保守结构域HLH。基因同源性分析结果表明,BnMYC2与拟南芥、甘蓝、萝卜的亲缘关系最近,氨基酸的相似度都在98%以上。组织特异性表达分析显示,BnMYC2在甘蓝型油菜的根、茎、叶、花、授粉后27 d的果荚和授粉后35 d的果荚中均有表达,且授粉后27 d的果荚中的表达水平最高。抗虫胁迫实验的结果显示,过表达BnMYC2拟南芥的抗虫基因VSP2的表达水平显著高于对照,推测甘蓝型油菜BnMYC2基因可能作为重要的调节因子参与虫害胁迫响应;MeJA诱导6 h后,VSP2基因在不同基因型拟南芥的表达量都明显增加,与诱导前相比差异显著,表明BnMYC2正向调...     

MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF AUTOPHAGY‐RELATED GENE 5 FROM Spodoptera exigua AND EXPRESSION ANALYSIS UNDER VARIOUS STRESS CONDITIONS

Autophagy is not only involved in development, but also has been proved to attend immune response against invading pathogens. Autophagy protein 5 (ATG5) is an important autophagic protein, which plays a crucial role in autophagosome elongation. Although ATG5 has been well studied in mammal, yeast, and Drosophila, little is known about ATG5 in lepidopteran insects. We cloned putative SeAtg5 gene from Spodoptera exigua larvae by the rapid amplification of cDNA ends method, and its characteristics and the influences of multiple exogenous factors on its expression levels were then investigated. The results showed that the putative S. exigua SeATG5 protein is highly homologous to other insect ATG5 proteins, which has a conserved Pfm domain and multiple phosphorylation sites. Next, fluorescence microscope observation showed that mCherry‐SeATG5 was distributed in both nucleus and cytoplasm of Spodoptera litura Sl‐HP cells and partially co‐localized with BmATG6‐GFP, but it almost has no significant co‐localization with GFP‐HaATG8. Then, the Western blot analysis demonstrated that GFP‐SeATG5 conjugated with ATG12. Moreover, real‐time PCR revealed that its expression levels significantly increased at the initiation of pupation and the stage of adult. In addition, the expression levels of SeAtg5 can be enhanced by the starvation, UV radiation, and infection of baculovirus and bacterium. However, the expression levels of SeAtg5 decreased at 24 h post treatments in all these treatments except in starvation. These results suggested that SeATG5 might be involved in response of S. exigua under various stress conditions.     

Insecticidal activity of the chitinase from the Spodoptera litura nucleopolyhedrovirus

Baculovirus chitinase gene (chiA) is a late gene essential for liquefying the host insect at a late stage of infection for its hydrolyzing chitin function. In a previous report, baculovirus ChiA has been shown to offer many interesting new opportunities for pest control. Recently, a putative chiA gene was identified in the Korean isolate of the Spodoptera litura nucleopolyhedorvirus (SpliMNPV‐K1) genome. The open reading frame (ORF) contains 1692 nucelotides and encodes a protein of 563 amino acids with a predicted molecular weight of about 62.6 kDa. To study the insecticidal activity of ChiA from SpliMNPV‐K1, we constructed a recombinant AcMNPV, Ap‐SlChiA, which is designed to express the ChiA under the control of a polyhedrin promoter. Western blot analysis indicated that ChiA was successfully expressed by this recombinant virus. Chitinase assay revealed that the chitobiosidase and endochitinase activity of the recombinant virus was 2.5‐ and 3.9‐flods higher than those of wild‐type AcMNPV, respectively. In addition, the recombinant virus showed higher evident insecticidal activity against 3rd instar larvae of Spodotera exigua than that of the AcMNPV. These results suggest that the chiA gene from SpliMNPV‐K1 could be successfully applied to improve pathogenicity of baculoviruses.