Gene Expression Profile of Bombyx mori Hemocyte under the Stress of Destruxin A

Destruxin A (DA) is a cyclo-peptidic mycotoxin from the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae. To uncover potential genes associated with its molecular mechanisms, a digital gene expression (DGE) profiling analysis was used to compare differentially expressed genes in the hemocytes of silkworm larvae treated with DA. Ten DGE libraries were constructed, sequenced, and assembled, and the unigenes with least 2.0-fold difference were further analyzed. The numbers of up-regulated genes were 10, 20, 18, 74 and 8, as well as the numbers of down-regulated genes were 0, 1, 8, 13 and 3 at 1, 4, 8, 12 and 24 h post treatment, respectively. Totally, the expression of 132 genes were significantly changed, among them, 1, 3 and 12 genes were continually up-regulated at 4, 3 and 2 different time points, respectively, while 1 gene was either up or down-regulated continually at 2 different time points. Furthermore, 68 genes were assigned to one or multiple gene ontology (GO) terms and 89 genes were assigned to specific Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) Orthology. In-depth analysis identified that these genes putatively involved in insecticide resistance, cell apoptosis, and innate immune defense. Finally, twenty differentially expressed genes were randomly chosen and validated by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Our studies provide insights into the toxic effect of this microbial insecticide on silkworm''s hemocytes, and are helpful to better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of DA as a biological insecticide.     

七星瓢虫滞育关联基因的转录组学分析

对七星瓢虫正常发育、滞育以及滞育解除的雌成虫进行RNA测序,并对筛选出来的滞育相关基因进行KEGG通路富集分析,从分子水平解析七星瓢虫滞育发机理。本研究以正常发育产卵、滞育30 d以及滞育贮存30 d后解除产卵的七星瓢虫雌成虫为研究对象,分别抽提RNA,合成c DNA,构建c DNA文库,文库检测合格后在Illummina Hiseq 2500测序仪上进行双向测序。根据测序结果,共获取unigene 82820个。采用两两比较法对正常发育组和滞育组、滞育组和滞育解除组进行差异表达分析,分别获得差异表达基因3501个和1427个。深入分析两组比对结果,将在滞育组上调且滞育解除组下调的unigene定义为滞育关联基因,共有443个基因为滞育关联基因。应用KEGG KAAS在线pathway比对分析工具对滞育关联基因进行通路富集分析,结果发现这些基因主要集中在碳水化合物代谢、脂质代谢以及信号转导等途径中。     

Three Heat Shock Protein Genes from Bactrocera (Tetradacus) minax Enderlein: Gene Cloning,Characterization, and Association with Diapause

Bactrocera (Tetradacus) minax Enderlein is a major pest to wild and cultivated species of citrus. Bactrocera minax produces one generation per year with a long pupal diapause period of over 6 months, which hinders efforts to obtain vast numbers of insects under standard room conditions. Determining the mechanisms of diapause is significantly important for obtaining large quantities of these insects. To characterize the heat shock protein (Hsp) genes of B. minax and to unravel their potential contribution to diapause, we performed 3′ and 5′ RACE to isolate the complementary DNA (cDNA) sequences, bioinformatics to examine the phylogenetic relationships, and real-time quantitative PCR to detect the expression patterns of three Hsp genes during various developmental stages. These results represent the first characterization of the three Hsp genes of B. minax; the open reading frames of Bmhsp23, Bmhsp70, and Bmhsp90 were 510, 1,911, and 1,089 bp, encoding 170, 636, and 363 amino acids, respectively. BmHsp70 and BmHsp90 displayed high identity to previously identified Hsp70 and Hsp90 genes, respectively. BmHsp23 displayed varying similarity, from 28 to 83%, to previously identified small Hsps. Bmhsp23 messenger RNA (mRNA) expression was found to be upregulated during diapause initiation, maintenance, and termination. Bmhsp70 mRNA expression peaked during diapause initiation. Bmhsp90 mRNA expression remained at a relatively low level during deep diapause. Our present results suggest that Bmhsp70 might play an important role in diapause initiation, while Bmhsp23 in diapause initiation and maintenance and Bmhsp90 in diapause regulation. These results improve our understanding of the mechanism of diapause in B. minax at the molecular level.