Bi Honglun, Xu Xia, Li Xiaowei, Zhang Yong, Huang Yongping, Li Kai, Xu Jun
College of Life Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China.
Insects. 2019 Aug 19;10(8):254. doi: 10.3390/insects10080254.
The domesticated silkworm is an economically important insect that is widely used as a lepidopteran insect model. Although somatic sex determination in the silkworm is well characterized, germline sex determination is not. Here, we used the transgenic-based CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system to study the function of the gene in . is the homolog of a factor important in germline sex determination in . mutants had abnormally shaped eggs that were disordered in the ovarioles, and gonad development was abnormal. Interestingly, wing discs and wings did not develop properly, and most of the mutants failed to eclose. Gene expression analyses by qRT-PCR showed that gene was highly expressed in the wing disc and epidermis. Genes involved in the WNT signaling pathway and wing development genes and were downregulated in the mutants when compared with wild-type animals. These results demonstrate that the gene product plays an important role in wing metamorphosis. Thus, this study provides new insights into the multiple functions of beyond germline sex determination.
家蚕是一种具有重要经济价值的昆虫，被广泛用作鳞翅目昆虫模型。尽管家蚕的体细胞性别决定已得到充分表征，但生殖系性别决定尚不明确。在此，我们使用基于转基因的CRISPR/Cas9基因组编辑系统来研究该基因在[具体物种]中的功能。[基因名称]是[另一物种]中生殖系性别决定的一个重要因子的同源物。[基因名称]突变体的卵形状异常，卵巢管排列紊乱，性腺发育异常。有趣的是，翅芽和翅膀发育不正常，大多数突变体无法羽化。通过qRT-PCR进行的基因表达分析表明，[基因名称]基因在翅芽和表皮中高度表达。与野生型动物相比，参与WNT信号通路的基因以及翅膀发育基因[具体基因名称1]和[具体基因名称2]在[基因名称]突变体中表达下调。这些结果表明，[基因名称]基因产物在翅膀变态中起重要作用。因此，本研究为[基因名称]在生殖系性别决定之外的多种功能提供了新见解。
