Genome-wide gene expression profiling of the melon fly, Zeugodacus cucurbitae, during thirteen life stages

Dong Wei,Su-Yun Zhang,Guy Smagghe,Dong Chen,Jin-Jun Wang,Hui-Qian Xu,Wei-Jun Li

doi:10.1038/s41597-020-0387-9

Abstract

The melon fly, Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillett), is an important destructive pest worldwide. Functional studies of the genes associated with development and reproduction during different life stages are limited in Z. cucurbitae. There have yet to be comprehensive transcriptomic resources for genetic and functional genomic studies to identify the molecular mechanisms related to its development and reproduction. In this study, we comprehensively sequenced the transcriptomes of four different developmental stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adults. Using the Illumina RNA-Seq technology, we constructed 52 libraries from 13 stages with four biological replicates in each and generated 435.61 Gb clean reads. We comprehensively characterized the transcriptomes with high-coverage mapping to the reference genome. A total of 13,760 genes were mapped to the reference genome, and another 4481 genes were characterized as new genes. Finally, 14,931 genes (81.85%) were functionally annotated against six annotation databases. This study provides the first comprehensive transcriptome data of all developmental stages of Z. cucurbitae, and will serve as a valuable resource for future genetic and functional studies.

Highlights

Background & SummaryThe melon fly, Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera, Tephritidae), is an important pest of cucurbit crops[1]
Transcriptome sequencing allows us to determine the gene expression mechanisms underlying certain biological functions and to identify potential targets associated with pest control
Similar to B. dorsalis artificial diet[31], Z. cucurbitae larvae were reared on an artificial diet consists of bitter gourd, corn, yeast powder, wheat flour, and sucrose; adults were fed a mixture of sucrose, yeast powder, and honey

Summary

Introduction

Background & SummaryThe melon fly, Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillett) (Diptera, Tephritidae), is an important pest of cucurbit crops[1]. Transcriptome sequencing is an efficient and low-cost method by which to explore gene expression patterns at multiple developmental stages[6,7], tissues in insects[8,9]. Comprehensive studies of gene expression during various developmental stages in many important insect pests, e.g. the oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis[13,14] and the ladybird Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata[6], have been performed to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying metamorphic development. Www.nature.com/scientificdata expression at the specific embryogenesis stage was obtained by transcriptomic sequencing technology[15].

Results

Conclusion