Abstract
BackgroundThe Chinese white wax scale, Ericerus pela Chavannes is economically significant for its role in wax production. This insect has been bred in China for over a thousand years. The wax secreted by the male scale insect during the second-instar larval stage has been widespread used in wax candle production, wax printing, engraving, Chinese medicine, and more recently in the chemical, pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetics industries. However, little is known about the mechanisms responsible for white wax biosynthesis. The characterization of its larval transcriptome may promote better understanding of wax biosynthesis.Methodology/Principal FindingsIn this study, characterization of the transcriptome of E. pela during peak wax secretion was performed using Illumina sequencing technology. Illumina sequencing produced 41,839 unigenes. These unigenes were annotated by blastx alignment against the NCBI Non-Redundant (NR), Swiss-Prot, KEGG, and COG databases. A total of 104 unigenes related to white wax biosynthesis were identified, and 15 of them were selected for quantitative real-time PCR analysis. We evaluated the variations in gene expression across different development stages, including egg, first/second instar larvae, male pupae, and male and female adults. Then we identified five genes involved in white wax biosynthesis. These genes were expressed most strongly during the second-instar larval stage of male E. pela.Conclusion/SignificanceThe transcriptome analysis of E. pela during peak wax secretion provided an overview of gene expression information at the transcriptional level and a resource for gene mining. Five genes related to white wax biosynthesis were identified.
Highlights
The Chinese white wax scale (CWWS) (Ericerus pela), silk worm (Bombyx mori), and honey bee (Apis cerana) are the three insect species most famous for their role in economic production in China
A total of 41,839 unigenes were generated with mean length of 482 bp, and 3,570 unigenes were over 1000 bp
The CWWS has been bred in China for commercial wax production for over a thousand years [3]
Summary
The Chinese white wax scale (CWWS) (Ericerus pela), silk worm (Bombyx mori), and honey bee (Apis cerana) are the three insect species most famous for their role in economic production in China. The male CWWSs secrete large amounts of pure white wax from wax glands. This wax is lustrous, free of pollutants, and has a high melting point and stable chemical properties. The Chinese white wax scale, Ericerus pela Chavannes is economically significant for its role in wax production. This insect has been bred in China for over a thousand years. The wax secreted by the male scale insect during the secondinstar larval stage has been widespread used in wax candle production, wax printing, engraving, Chinese medicine, and more recently in the chemical, pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetics industries. The characterization of its larval transcriptome may promote better understanding of wax biosynthesis
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