Abstract
The foraging gene (for) encodes for a cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent protein kinase involved in behavioural plasticity in aphids and in other insects. In this paper, we analysed the complete for sequence in eight clones of the peach potato aphid Myzus persicae, reporting the presence of nonsense and frameshift mutations in three studied clones characterized by a reduced number of winged females and by the absence of exploratory behaviours. Quantitative PCR experiments evidenced similar results in clones possessing for genes with a conserved coding sequence, but low expression levels. The comparison of the for transcriptional level in Myzus persicae persicae and Myzus persicae nicotianae showed very different expression in the two studied M. p. nicotianae clones so that our data did not support a previous hypothesis suggesting that a differential for expression was related to ecological specialization of M. p. nicotianae. In view of its role in both the dispersal of winged females and exploratory behaviours, the screening of the for sequences could be useful for predicting invasions of cultivated areas by peach potato aphids.
Highlights
In the last decades, several well-studied examples that shed light on genes and pathways underlying insect behavioural plasticity have been described [1–5]
The foraging gene encodes for a cyclic guanosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase involved in behavioural plasticity in aphids and in other insects
We analysed the complete for sequence in eight clones of the peach potato aphid Myzus persicae, reporting the presence of nonsense and frameshift mutations in three studied clones characterized by a reduced number of winged females and by the absence of exploratory behaviours
Summary
Several well-studied examples that shed light on genes and pathways underlying insect behavioural plasticity have been described [1–5]. Several recent achievements in this research field have been related to the foraging gene (for), which encodes a cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent protein kinase (PKG), suggesting that it may regulate different behaviours in several insects, including Diptera, Hymenoptera, Coleoptera and Hemiptera [1,3,5–10]. Identified as a behaviourally polymorphic gene that drives alternative foraging strategies in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster [11], the for gene has been successively deeply studied in social insects, where it has been observed that its differential expression plays a key role in the division of labour in diverse castes [5,6,12]. The specific neurological role of for in the insect brain is currently unknown, studies in some insect species indicated that PKG signalling plays a conserved role in the neuronal plasticity of sensory, cognitive and motor functions, which underlie behaviours related to appetitive learning, aggression, stress response, phototaxis and response to pheromones [5]
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