Lipidomics and RNA-Seq Study of Lipid Regulation in Aphis gossypii parasitized by Lysiphlebia japonica

Gao Xueke,Luo Junyu,Zhang Lijuan,Lü Limin,Cui Jinjie,Zhang Shuai

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-01546-1

Gao Xueke, Luo Junyu + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01546-1

Copy DOI

Abstract

The cotton–melon aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover, is a major insect pest worldwide. Lysiphlebia japonica (Ashmead) is an obligate parasitic wasp of A. gossypii, and has the ability to regulate lipid metabolism of the cotton-melon aphid. Lipids are known to play critical roles in energy homeostasis, membrane structure, and signaling. However, the parasitoid genes that regulate fat metabolism and lipid composition in aphids are not known. 34 glycerolipids and 248 glycerophospholipids were identified in this study. We have shown that a 3-day parasitism of aphids can induce significant changes in the content and acyl chain composition of triacylglycerols (TAGs) and subspecies composition of glycerophospholipids content and acyl chains. It also upregulate the expression of several genes involved in triacylglycerol synthesis and glycerophospholipid metabolism. Pathway analysis showed that a higher expression of genes involved in the tricarboxylic acid cycle and glycolysis pathways may contribute to TAGs synthesis in parasitized aphids. Interestingly, the higher expression of genes in the sphingomyelin pathway and reduced sphingomyelin content may be related to the reproductive ability of A. gossypii. We provide a comprehensive resource describing the molecular signature of parasitized A. gossypii particularly the changes associated with the lipid metabolism and discuss the biological and ecological significance of this change.

Highlights

The cotton-melon aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover, is an important agricultural pest, and is a major pest of cotton in China[1, 2]
We investigated the effects of L. japonica parasitism on the lipid metabolism of A. gossypii
RNA-Seq combined with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Q-TOF-MS) based metabolomics was applied to determine the effects of parasitism on the gene expression and probe content-dependent alterations in the metabolic profiles of parasitized and non-parasitized control aphids

Summary

Introduction

The cotton-melon aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover, is an important agricultural pest, and is a major pest of cotton in China[1, 2]. The natural enemy of cotton aphid is the wasp, Lysiphlebia japonica (Ashmead), which is the predominant parasitoid of cotton–melon aphids and is a dominant species in the fields of northern China. This wasp can effectively control cotton aphid populations in early summer[3, 4] projecting a promising future in the control of aphids by biological control strategy. Our results showed that parasitism resulted in marked changes in the lipid metabolism, and composition and remodeling of glycerolipids and glycerophospholipids Novel insights into the lipid metabolism of parasitized aphids and will enable further characterization of the lipid synthesis pathway and its relationship with the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and glycolysis

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion