Nandety Raja Sekhar, Sharif Almas, Kamita Shizuo G, Ramasamy Asokan, Falk Bryce W
Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis, California, United States of America.
Department of Entomology & Nematology, University of California, Davis, California, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2015 Oct 6;10(10):e0139771. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139771. eCollection 2015.
The glassy-winged sharpshooter (GWSS) Homalodisca vitripennis (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), is a xylem-feeding leafhopper and an important vector of the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa; the causal agent of Pierce's disease of grapevines. MicroRNAs are a class of small RNAs that play an important role in the functional development of various organisms including insects. In H. vitripennis, we identified microRNAs using high-throughput deep sequencing of adults followed by computational and manual annotation. A total of 14 novel microRNAs that are not found in the miRBase were identified from adult H. vitripennis. Conserved microRNAs were also found in our datasets. By comparison to our previously determined transcriptome sequence of H. vitripennis, we identified the potential targets of the microRNAs in the transcriptome. This microRNA profile information not only provides a more nuanced understanding of the biological and physiological mechanisms that govern gene expression in H. vitripennis, but may also lead to the identification of novel mechanisms for biorationally designed management strategies through the use of microRNAs.
玻璃翅叶蝉（GWSS）葡萄长管蚜（半翅目：叶蝉科），是一种取食木质部的叶蝉，也是木质部难养菌的重要传播媒介；木质部难养菌是葡萄皮尔氏病的致病因子。微小RNA是一类小RNA，在包括昆虫在内的各种生物体的功能发育中发挥着重要作用。在葡萄长管蚜中，我们通过对成虫进行高通量深度测序，然后进行计算和人工注释来鉴定微小RNA。从成年葡萄长管蚜中鉴定出总共14种在miRBase中未发现的新型微小RNA。在我们的数据集中也发现了保守的微小RNA。通过与我们之前确定的葡萄长管蚜转录组序列进行比较，我们在转录组中鉴定了微小RNA的潜在靶标。这种微小RNA图谱信息不仅能让我们更细致地了解控制葡萄长管蚜基因表达的生物学和生理机制，还可能通过使用微小RNA，为合理设计生物防治策略找到新机制。
