Isolation of the AccCDK8 gene of Apis cerana cerana and its functional analysis under pesticide and heavy metal stress

Abstract

Environmental pollution has gained negative attention in recent years. The pesticides and heavy metals are top list of environmental toxicants directly endangering the survival and development of Apis cerana cerana. Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are heteromeric serine/threonine kinases that participate in cell cycle regulation and have a vital role in pesticide and heavy metal stress in Apis cerana cerana. In this experiment, we filtered out CDK8 gene from Apis cerana cerana (AccCDK8) and investigated its functions of pesticide and heavy metals resistance. Sequence analysis indicated that AccCDK8 is highly homologous to multiple CDK8s and contains a highly conserved CDK active site sequence. Phylogenetic analysis showed that AmCDK8 and AccCDK8 were closely related evolutionarily in Apis mellifera. Transcriptome analysis revealed that AccCDK8 expression was differentially affected after exposure to pesticide and heavy metal stresses. This indicates that AccCDK8 has a significant role in the resistance of Apis cerana cerana to pesticide and heavy metal stresses. It has implications for studying the function of CDK in other insects in response to stress.