Abstract
Glucose metabolism is a biologically important metabolic process. Glycogen synthase kinase (GSK-3) is a key enzyme located in the middle of the sugar metabolism pathway that can regulate the energy metabolism process in the body through insulin signaling. This paper mainly explores the regulatory effect of glycogen synthase kinase on the metabolism of glycogen and trehalose in the brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens) by RNA interference. In this paper, microinjection of the target double-stranded GSK-3 (dsGSK-3) effectively inhibited the expression of target genes in N. lugens. GSK-3 gene silencing can effectively inhibit the expression of target genes (glycogen phosphorylase gene, glycogen synthase gene, trehalose-6-phosphate synthase 1 gene, and trehalose-6-phosphate synthase 2 gene) in N. lugens and trehalase activity, thereby reducing glycogen and glucose content, increasing trehalose content, and regulating insect trehalose balance. GSK-3 can regulate the genes chitin synthase gene and glucose-6-phosphate isomerase gene involved in the chitin biosynthetic pathway of N. lugens. GSK-3 gene silencing can inhibit the synthesis of chitin N. lugens, resulting in abnormal phenotypes and increased mortality. These results indicated that a low expression of GSK-3 in N. lugens can regulate the metabolism of glycogen and trehalose through the insulin signal pathway and energy metabolism pathway, and can regulate the biosynthesis of chitin, which affects molting and wing formation. The relevant research results will help us to more comprehensively explore the molecular mechanism of the regulation of energy and chitin metabolism of insect glycogen synthase kinases in species such as N. lugens.
Highlights
Rice is one of the most important food crops grown in large quantities in Southeast Asian countries (Kang et al, 2019)
The double-stranded GSK-3 (dsGSK-3) and trehalose mixed injection group decreased most obviously (P < 0.01) (Figure 1). This result indicates that the injection of dsGSK-3, a mixture of dsGSK-3 and glucose, a mixture of dsGSK-3, and trehalose can significantly reduce the expression of GSK-3
The glycogen, glucose, and trehalose contents were significantly decreased or extremely significantly decreased 72 h after dsGSK-3 injection (Figure 2); the glucose and glycogen contents were significantly increased after injection of a mixture of dsGSK-3 and glucose (P < 0.05) (Figures 2A,B), and the glycogen and glucose contents were restored to a level similar to that observed in the control group after injection of a mixture of dsGSK-3 and trehalose (Figures 2A,B)
Summary
Rice is one of the most important food crops grown in large quantities in Southeast Asian countries (Kang et al, 2019). Rice is threatened by hundreds of pests throughout many stages, from planting to storage (Ghaffar et al, 2011). Delphacidae are one of the most serious rice pests, with the family including insects such as Laodelphgax striatellus, Sogatella furcifera, and Nilaparvata lugens. Virus (RRSV) and grass stunt virus (Zhu et al, 2017), it has become the most serious type of Delphacidae (Jing et al, 2017; Zhang et al, 2018). Most of the chemical pesticides are used to control N. lugens, but because of its resistance to a large number of insecticides, the control effect is not satisfactory. The use of chemical pesticides poses a strong threat to the ecological environment (Diptaningsari et al, 2019)
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