Abstract
Biogenic amines perform many kinds of important physiological functions in the central nervous system (CNS) of insects, acting as neuromodulators, neurotransmitters, and neurohormones. The five most abundant types of biogenic amines in invertebrates are dopamine, histamine, serotonin, tyramine, and octopamine (OA). However, in beetles, an important group of model and pest insects, the role of tyramine β-hydroxylase (TβH) in the OA biosynthesis pathway and the regulation of behavior remains unknown so far. We therefore investigated the molecular characterization and spatiotemporal expression profiles of TβH in red flour beetles (Triboliun castaneum). Most importantly, we detected the production of OA and measured the crawling speed of beetles after dsTcTβH injection. We concluded that TcTβH controls the biosynthesis amount of OA in the CNS, and this in turn modulates the mobility of the beetles. Our new results provided basic information about the key genes in the OA biosynthesis pathway of the beetles, and expanded our knowledge on the physiological functions of OA in insects.
Highlights
Biogenic amines perform many kinds of important physiological functions in the central nervous system (CNS) of insects, acting as neuromodulators, neurotransmitters, and neurohormones [1]
In order to investigate the effect of OA production on beetles’ behavior, we used the red-flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum), an important model and pest insect, targeting the key enzyme involved in the OA biosynthesis pathway. quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was applied to investigate its developmental and spatial expression patterns and the double-stranded RNA injection-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) was used to knockdown TcTβH
The tyramine β-hydroxylase (TβH) transcript was identified from the genome database of T. castaneum (BAM21526.1) by a tBLASTn search using the TβH transcript of D. melanogaster (NP-788884.1)
Summary
Biogenic amines perform many kinds of important physiological functions in the central nervous system (CNS) of insects, acting as neuromodulators, neurotransmitters, and neurohormones [1]. This process consists of two steps: decarboxylation of tyrosine to tyramine [13], and hydroxylation of tyramine to OA [14] During this process, the tyramine β-hydroxylase (TβH) is a key enzyme involved in the hydroxylation of tyramine, which seems to be extraordinarily important in controlling the production of OA in the nervous system. The increased activity of TβH in the brain with elevated OA production during different developmental stages of Manduca sexta has been documented [16]. In order to investigate the effect of OA production on beetles’ behavior, we used the red-flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum), an important model and pest insect, targeting the key enzyme involved in the OA biosynthesis pathway. The crawling speed of adult T. castaneum was measured after RNAi. We found that TβH regulated OA production, which modulates the mobility of T. castaneum. Our results will add basic information on the physiological function of OA in the beetles, and help to elucidate the complex network regulating the locomotion of insects
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