Abstract
BackgroundStink bugs are an emerging threat to crop security in many parts of the globe, but there are few genetic resources available to study their physiology at a molecular level. This is especially true for tissues such as the midgut, which forms the barrier between ingested material and the inside of the body.ResultsHere, we focus on the midgut of the southern green stink bug Nezara viridula and use both transcriptomic and proteomic approaches to create an atlas of expression along the four compartments of the anterior-posterior axis. Estimates of the transcriptome completeness were high, which led us to compare our predicted gene set to other related stink bugs and Hemiptera, finding a high number of species-specific genes in N. viridula. To understand midgut function, gene ontology and gene family enrichment analyses were performed for the most highly expressed and specific genes in each midgut compartment. These data suggested a role for the anterior midgut (regions M1-M3) in digestion and xenobiotic metabolism, while the most posterior compartment (M4) was enriched in transmembrane proteins. A more detailed characterization of these findings was undertaken by identifying individual members of the cytochrome P450 superfamily and nutrient transporters thought to absorb amino acids or sugars.ConclusionsThese findings represent an initial step to understand the compartmentalization and physiology of the N. viridula midgut at a genetic level. Future studies will be able to build on this work and explore the molecular physiology of the stink bug midgut.
Highlights
Stink bugs are an emerging threat to crop security in many parts of the globe, but there are few genetic resources available to study their physiology at a molecular level
Full tables showing the expression levels reported in transcripts per kilobase million (TPM) and presence or absence in proteomics are reported in Additional file 7: Table S3 and Additional file 8: Table S4, respectively
In order to understand the function of an organism, tissue, or cell, one must first know the landscape of genes and proteins that are present there
Summary
Stink bugs are an emerging threat to crop security in many parts of the globe, but there are few genetic resources available to study their physiology at a molecular level This is especially true for tissues such as the midgut, which forms the barrier between ingested material and the inside of the body. Insect pests pose a serious threat to food security, which has led to the widespread adoption of transgenic plants expressing insecticidal proteins (e.g. Bt toxins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis). Stink bug-related crop damage from polyphagous species such as Halyomorpha halys (brown marmorated stink bug), Acrosternum hilare (green stink bug), Euschistus hero (brown stink bug), and the southern green stink bug Nezara viridula have become a major problem [2] Despite their widespread importance, much still remains unknown about their physiology especially at the genetic level. Neither the physiological roles or expression profiles of these gut compartments are fully understood
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