Assembly and Annotation of Transcriptome Provided Evidence of miRNA Mobility between Wheat and Wheat Stem Sawfly.

Halise B Cagirici,Hikmet Budak,Sezgi Biyiklioglu

doi:10.3389/fpls.2017.01653

Halise B Cagirici, Hikmet Budak + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.01653

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Abstract

Wheat Stem Sawfly (WSS), Cephus Cinctus Norton (Hymenoptera: Cephidae), is one of the most important pests, causing yield and economic losses in wheat and barley. The lack of information about molecular mechanisms of WSS for defeating plant’s resistance prevents application of effective pest control strategies therefore, it is essential to identify the genes and their regulators behind WSS infestations. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) are recognized with their regulatory functions on gene expression, tuning protein production by controlling transcriptional and post-transcriptional activities. A transcriptome-guided approach was followed in order to identify miRNAs, lncRNAs, and mRNA of WSS, and their interaction networks. A total of 1,893 were presented here as differentially expressed between larva and adult WSS insects. There were 11 miRNA families detected in WSS transcriptome. Together with the annotation of 1,251 novel mRNAs, the amount of genetic information available for WSS was expanded. The network between WSS miRNAs, lncRNAs, and mRNAs suggested miRNA-mediated regulatory roles of lncRNAs as competing endogenous RNAs. In the light of the previous evidence that small RNA molecules of a pathogen could suppress the immune response of host plant, we analyzed the putative interactions between larvae and wheat at the miRNA level. Overall, this study provides a profile of larva and adult WSS life stages in terms of coding and non-coding elements. These findings also emphasize the potential roles of wheat and larval miRNAs in wheat resistance to infestation and in the suppression of resistance which is critical for the development of effective pest control strategies.

Highlights

Wheat Stem Sawfly (WSS), Cephus Cinctus Norton (Hymenoptera: Cephidae) is stated as the most damaging pest of wheat in Northern Great Plains, causing crop devastations in Montana region each year (Beres et al, 2011)
RNA-sequencing data from eight WSS samples, including larvae, antennae, females, and males, from infected plants were retrieved from NCBI database [Sequence Read Archive (SRA) accession number SRP067708]
The results showed that 83.79% (59,676) of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) passed the threshold of active expression as opposed to 92.21% (40,185 out of 43,581) of annotated transcripts, illustrating the tendency of lncRNAs to exhibit lower expressions

Summary

Introduction

Wheat Stem Sawfly (WSS), Cephus Cinctus Norton (Hymenoptera: Cephidae) is stated as the most damaging pest of wheat in Northern Great Plains, causing crop devastations in Montana region each year (Beres et al, 2011). Stem cutting causes a dramatic reduction in yield, and even uncut infested plants have low yield due to decreased head weight by 17% (Delaney et al, 2010). Usage of chemicals is limited by the long emergence period of females and the wheat stem protecting the eggs and the larva feeding inside (Knodel et al, 2009). The introduction of solid-stemmed wheat instead of hollow-stemmed wheat maintained a more powerful control on the infestations. The solid-stemmed cultivars are not preferred by producers because of its low yield and protein content compared to hollow-stemmed cultivars (Beres et al, 2011)

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