Abstract
Chilo supprressalis is one of the most important rice pests that causes serious damage to production in the rice growth area of Asia. Vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) was previously found to effectively attract female adults of C. suppressalis laying eggs on vetiver leaves, while the larvae cannot complete their life cycles by feeding on vetiver, indicating a potential means of controlling this pest. In the present study, the transcriptomes of midguts of rice-fed and vetiver-fed C. suppressalis larvae were profiled, which aimed to clarify the molecular mechanism of vetiver as a dead-end trap plant preliminarily. We found that ingestion of vetiver provoked a robust transcriptional response in the larval midguts, and a total of 1,849 differentially expressed UniGenes were identified. We focused on 12 digestion-related genes, four immune-related genes and three detoxification-related genes. Most of these genes were significantly down regulated in the larval midguts at 6, 8, and 10 days after feeding on vetiver compared to on rice. Transcriptional dynamics suggested that these genes might be involved in toxicity responses following exposure to vetiver. Taken together, this study provides an initial molecular framework for developing biological control strategies for C. suppressalis in an effort to protect economically important rice crops.
Highlights
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the staple food for half the world’s population
After removing low-quality and adaptor sequences, 51,810,574 and 53,910,888 clean reads were generated from the midguts of C. suppressalis larvae after they were fed for 2 days with rice and vetiver, respectively
Using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), we investigated the expression dynamics of 12 digestion-related, four immune responsive-related and three detoxification-related UniGenes that were differentially expressed, such as some up-regulated genens, in vetiver-fed larvae compared to rice-fed controls
Summary
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the staple food for half the world’s population. It is frequently attacked by rice stem borers, which are persistent and chronic pests occurring in most paddy fields during each growing season throughout the rice producing area of Asia. Among these stem borers, the striped stem borer Chilo suppressalis (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) is widely distributed. The striped stem borer Chilo suppressalis (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) is widely distributed It is responsible for huge annual yield losses for rice (Qu et al, 2003). Considerable attention has been paid to trap plants as a means of biological control of C. suppressalis
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