Abstract
BackgroundDiabrotica virgifera virgifera, western corn rootworm, is one of the most devastating species in North America. D. v. virgifera neonates crawl through the soil to locate the roots on which they feed. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the important volatile cues that attract D. v. virgifera larvae to roots. ResultsIn this study, we identified three putative D. v. virgifera gustatory receptor genes (Dvv_Gr1, Dvv_Gr2, and Dvv_Gr3). Phylogenetic analyses confirmed their orthologous relationships with known insect CO2 receptor genes from Drosophila, mosquitoes, and Tribolium. The phylogenetic reconstruction of insect CO2 receptor proteins and the gene expression profiles were analyzed. Quantitative analysis of gene expression indicated that the patterns of expression of these three candidate genes vary among larval tissues (i.e., head, integument, fat body, and midgut) and different development stages (i.e., egg, three larval stages, adult male and female).Conclusion The Dvv_Gr2 gene exhibited highest expression in heads and neonates, suggesting its importance in allowing neonate larvae to orient to its host plant. Similar expression patterns across tissues and developmental stages for Dvv_Gr1 and Dvv_Gr3 suggest a potentially different role. Findings from this study will allow further exploration of the functional role of specific CO2 receptor proteins in D. v. virgifera.
Highlights
Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, western corn rootworm, is one of the most devastating species in North America
We identified three putative CO2 receptor genes from a larval D. v. virgifera transcriptome [19] and we characterized the expression of those genes in different D. v. virgifera tissues and developmental stages
These protein sequences were used as the queries for tblastn similarity searches [20] against the combined transcriptome obtained from D. v. virgifera eggs, neonates, and midgut of 3rd instar larvae [19] with 1 × 10−100 as the E-value threshold to identify CO2 receptor gene candidates in D. v. virgifera
Summary
Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, western corn rootworm, is one of the most devastating species in North America. Many insects are able to detect carbon dioxide (CO2) in the environment for a variety of purposes, such as the location of their vertebrate hosts by hematophagous insects [1] evaluation of floral quality by lepidopterans [2], and the regulation of potentially lethal CO2 concentrations by social insects in colonies [3]. Insect herbivores, such as the western corn rootworm Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), use CO2 as an important host finding cue [4]. In mosquitos and other insects, a third group of Gr genes is identified
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