State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology and Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Agricultural Entomology, Institute of Insect Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology and Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Agricultural Entomology, Institute of Insect Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Genetics. 2017 Nov;207(3):1067-1078. doi: 10.1534/genetics.117.300328. Epub 2017 Sep 26.
Sexual dimorphism and wing polyphenism are important and evolutionarily conserved features of many insect species. In this article, we found a cross-talk linking sexual differentiation with wing polyphenism in the brown planthopper (BPH) (order: Hemiptera). Knockdown of the sex determination gene in () in nymph caused females to develop into infertile pseudomales containing undeveloped ovaries. Whereas males treated with ds exhibited normal morphology, but lost fertility. Knockdown of in adult females (maternal RNAi) resulted in long-winged female offspring, indicating that maternal RNAi changed the wing morphs in female offspring. In addition, silencing of down-regulated the expression of the transcription factor FoxO (), and simultaneously up-regulated the expression of (()) (), the two critical genes in the insulin signaling pathway. Furthermore, the long-winged effect caused by maternal ds RNAi could be reversed by silencing of and , leading to short-winged morphs. We propose that there is a cross-talk between the sexual differentiation and wing polyphenism pathways mediated by during embryonic stages.
性二型和翅多态性是许多昆虫物种的重要且进化保守的特征。在本文中，我们发现了一种联系性分化与褐飞虱（鳞翅目）翅多态性的交叉对话。在若虫中敲低性别决定基因 （）会导致雌性发育成不育的假雄虫，其卵巢未发育。而用 ds 处理的雄性表现出正常的形态，但失去了生育能力。在成年雌性（母体 RNAi）中敲低 会导致长翅的雌性后代，表明母体 RNAi 改变了雌性后代的翅形态。此外，沉默 下调了转录因子 FoxO（）的表达，同时上调了胰岛素信号通路中的两个关键基因 （()）（）的表达。此外，母体 ds RNAi 引起的长翅效应可以通过沉默 和 来逆转，导致短翅形态。我们提出，在胚胎发育阶段，由 介导的性分化和翅多态性途径之间存在交叉对话。
