Department of Biophysics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390.
Department of Microbiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Jan 29;116(5):1669-1678. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1818283116. Epub 2019 Jan 14.
Since its accidental introduction to Massachusetts in the late 1800s, the European gypsy moth (EGM; ) has become a major defoliator in North American forests. However, in part because females are flightless, the spread of the EGM across the United States and Canada has been relatively slow over the past 150 years. In contrast, females of the Asian gypsy moth (AGM; ) subspecies have fully developed wings and can fly, thereby posing a serious economic threat if populations are established in North America. To explore the genetic determinants of these phenotypic differences, we sequenced and annotated a draft genome of and used it to identify genetic variation between EGM and AGM populations. The 865-Mb gypsy moth genome is the largest Lepidoptera genome sequenced to date and encodes ∼13,300 proteins. Gene ontology analyses of EGM and AGM samples revealed divergence between these populations in genes enriched for several gene ontology categories related to muscle adaptation, chemosensory communication, detoxification of food plant foliage, and immunity. These genetic differences likely contribute to variations in flight ability, chemical sensing, and pathogen interactions among EGM and AGM populations. Finally, we use our new genomic and transcriptomic tools to provide insights into genome-wide gene-expression changes of the gypsy moth after viral infection. Characterizing the immunological response of gypsy moths to virus infection may aid in the improvement of virus-based bioinsecticides currently used to control larval populations.
自 19 世纪末意外传入马萨诸塞州以来，欧洲舞毒蛾（EGM）已成为北美森林中的主要食叶害虫。然而，由于雌性舞毒蛾无飞行能力，在过去的 150 年里，EGM 在美国和加拿大的传播相对较慢。相比之下，如果亚洲舞毒蛾（AGM）亚种的雌性具有完全发育的翅膀并能够飞行，那么如果其种群在北美建立，将对经济构成严重威胁。为了探索这些表型差异的遗传决定因素，我们对进行了测序和注释，并利用它来鉴定 EGM 和 AGM 种群之间的遗传变异。865Mb 的舞毒蛾基因组是迄今为止测序的最大鳞翅目基因组，编码了约 13300 种蛋白质。对 EGM 和 AGM 样本的基因本体论分析表明，这些种群在与肌肉适应、化感通讯、对食物植物叶片解毒以及免疫相关的几个基因本体论类别中富集的基因存在差异。这些遗传差异可能导致 EGM 和 AGM 种群在飞行能力、化学感应和病原体相互作用方面存在差异。最后，我们利用我们新的基因组和转录组工具，深入了解舞毒蛾在病毒感染后的全基因组基因表达变化。研究舞毒蛾对病毒感染的免疫反应可能有助于改进目前用于控制幼虫种群的基于病毒的生物杀虫剂。
