Characterizing heat shock protein 90 gene of Apolygus lucorum (Meyer-Dür) and its expression in response to different temperature and pesticide stresses

Abstract

In this study, we cloned a full-length cDNA of heat shock protein (HSP) gene of Apolygus lucorum (Meyer-Dür) [AlHSP90, KC109781] and investigated its expression in response to temperature and pesticide stresses. The open reading frame (ORF) of AlHSP90 is 2,169 bp in length, encoding a 722 amino acid polypeptide with a predicted molecular weight of 82.99 kDa. Transcriptional and translational expression profiles of AlHSP90 under extreme temperature or pesticide stresses were examined by fluorescent real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot. Results showed that the expression profiles of AlHSP90 protein were in high agreement with those of AlHSP90 RNA and indicated that AlHSP90 was not only an important gene for A. lucorum adults in response to extremely high temperature, but also involved in the resistance or tolerance to cyhalothrin, imidacloprid, chlorpyrifos, and emamectin benzoate, especially for female adults to emamectin benzoate and for male adults to cyhalothrin. Transcriptional results of AlHSP90 also confirmed that AlHSP90 was an important gene involved in the resistance or tolerance to both temperature and pesticide stresses. In addition, our study also revealed that ∼24 °C may be the suitable temperature range for A. lucorum survival, which is also confirmed by the results of the expression of AlHSP90, the nymph mortality, and the intrinsic rate of increase (r m) when A. lucorum is reared at six different temperatures. Therefore, these studies are significant in elucidating the AlHSP90 in response to temperature and pesticide stresses and would provide guidance for A. lucorum management with different pesticides or temperatures in fields.