Cloning and Expression of the Neuropeptide F and Neuropeptide F Receptor Genes and Their Regulation of Food Intake in the Chinese White Pine Beetle Dendroctonus armandi.

Bin Liu,Danyang Fu,Hang Ning,Yaya Sun,Hui Chen,Ming Tang,Haiming Gao

doi:10.3389/fphys.2021.662651

Abstract

Neuropeptide F (NPF) is an important signaling molecule that acts as a neuromodulator to regulate a diversity of physiological and behavioral processes from vertebrates to invertebrates by interaction with NPF receptors, which are G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR). However, nothing is known about NPF in Chinese white pine beetle, Dendroctonus armandi, a destructive pest of natural and coniferous forests in the middle Qinling Mountains of China. We have cloned and characterized cDNAs encoding one NPF precursor and two NPF receptors in D. armandi and made bioinformatics predictions according to the deduced amino acid sequences. They were highly similar to that of Dendroctonus ponderosa. The transcription levels of these genes were different between larvae and adults of sexes, and there were significant differences among the different developmental stages and tissues and between beetles under starvation and following re-feeding states. Additionally, downregulation of NPF and NPFR by injecting dsRNA into beetles reduced their food intake, caused increases of mortality and decreases of body weight, and also resulted in a decrease of glycogen and free fatty acid and an increase of trehalose. These results indicate that the NPF signaling pathway plays a significant positive role in the regulation of food intake and provides a potential target for the sustainable management of this pest.

Highlights

Neuropeptides play significant regulatory roles in both vertebrates and invertebrates
To investigate whether Neuropeptide F (NPF) signaling in D. armandi is involved in food intake or not, we identified and cloned cDNAs encoding a NPF precursor and two NPFRs from D. armandi, which were used for further investigations of related functions
The cDNA sequence of NPF confirms the presence of 133 amino acids, and mature NPF is produced with an amidated

Summary

Introduction

Neuropeptides play significant regulatory roles in both vertebrates and invertebrates. The NPF/NPFR signaling system provides a new paradigm for exploring the central regulation of cooperative and behavioral processes (Wu et al, 2003). NPFs have a significant role in regulating feeding and foraging behaviors (Shen and Cai, 2001; Wu et al, 2003; Fadda et al, 2019). As a matter of fact, regulation of feeding was the first observed role of NPF, and most functional insights have been mainly obtained in studies with Drosophila melanogaster (Brown et al, 1999; Wu et al, 2005a,b; Wang et al, 2013). NPF signaling stimulates feeding behavior under cold conditions in Drosophila larvae (Lingo et al, 2007)

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Conclusion