Transcriptomic analysis of the prothoracic gland from two lepidopteran insects, domesticated silkmoth Bombyx mori and wild silkmoth Antheraea pernyi

Hai-Xu Bian,Run-Xi Xia,Yi-Ren Jiang,Li Qin,Yan-Qun Liu,Dong-Bin Chen,Yu-Ping Li,Huan Wang,Qun Li,Xi-Xi Zheng,Hong-Fang Ma

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-41864-0

Hai-Xu Bian, Run-Xi Xia + Show 9 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-41864-0

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Journal: Scientific Reports	Publication Date: Mar 29, 2019
Citations: 8	License type: open-access

Affiliation: Shenyang Agricultural University

Abstract

The prothoracic gland (PG) is an important endocrine organ of synthesis and secretion of ecdysteroids that play critical roles in insects. Here, we used a comparative transcriptomic approach to characterize some common features of PGs from two lepidopteran species Bombyx mori and Antheraea pernyi. Functional and pathway annotations revealed an overall similarity in gene profile between the two PG transcriptomes. As expected, almost all steroid hormone biosynthesis genes and the prothoracicitropic hormone receptor gene (Torso) were well represented in the two PGs. Impressively, two ecdysone receptor genes, eleven juvenile hormone related genes, more than 10 chemosensory protein genes, and a set of genes involved in circadian clock were also presented in the two PGs. Quantitative real time -PCR (qRT-PCR) validated the expression of 8 juvenile hormone and 12 clock related genes in B. mori PG, and revealed a different expression pattern during development in whole fifth larval instar. This contribution to insect PG transcriptome data will extend our understanding of the function and regulation of this important organ.

Highlights

The prothoracic gland (PG) of insect is one of the most important endocrine organs that synthesizes and releases ecdysteroid hormone playing critical roles in regulating growth, moulting and metamorphosis
The sequence data for B. mori and A. pernyi PGs have been deposited in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA) database under accessions SRX2434881 and SRX2434884, respectively, and the assembled sequences have been deposited in Transcriptome Shotgun Assembly (TSA) database under accessions GFCX00000000 and GFCY00000000 associated with Bioproject PRJNA357974 and PRJNA357975 for A. pernyi and B. mori PGs, respectively
We identified 11 juvenile hormone related genes that are represented in the PG transcriptome data from two silkworms (Table 1 and Fig. 3A), including Farnesyl diphosphate phosphatase (FPPP), Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), juvenile hormone acid methyltransferase (JHAMT), juvenile hormone epoxide hydrolase (JHEH), juvenile hormone esterase (JHE), cytosolic juvenile hormone-binding protein, juvenile hormone binding protein (JHBP), juvenile hormone esterase binding protein (JHEBP), hexamerin, broad and allatostatin receptor

Summary

Introduction

The prothoracic gland (PG) of insect is one of the most important endocrine organs that synthesizes and releases ecdysteroid hormone playing critical roles in regulating growth, moulting and metamorphosis. As an important endocrine organ, the insect PG has been considered as a model for steroid hormone biosynthesis and regulation[2]. We used Illumina sequencing of cDNAs from the larval PGs of two economically important silkmoth species, B. mori and A. pernyi to characterize their common expressed genes that present the basic factors necessary for the function of the PG. The former is the model insect for the order Lepidoptera, and has economically important values for silk production[9]. This is the first comparative view of the genes transcribed in this unique organ

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