Qian He-Ying, Zhang Xiao, Zhao Guo-Dong, Guo Hui-Min, Li Gang, Xu An-Ying
School of Biotechnology, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Jiangsu 212018, China.
Sericultural Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jiangsu 212018, China.
Insects. 2020 Jul 24;11(8):467. doi: 10.3390/insects11080467.
The silkworm, Linnaeus, is an important economic insect and a representative model organism of Lepidoptera, which has been widely used in the study of reproduction and development. The development of the silkworm's reproductive gland is easily affected by many external factors, such as chemical insecticides. After the silkworm larvae were treated with different concentrations of pyriproxyfen, the results showed that the number of eggs and hatching rate of eggs in the silkworm can be reduced by pyriproxyfen, and the concentration effects were displayed. Pyriproxyfen exposure could affect the normal development of the ovary tissue by reducing the number of oocytes and oogonia in the ovaries of silkworm fed with pyriproxyfen. We employed qRT-PCR, to detect the expressions of genes related to ovary development (, , and ) and hormone regulation ( and ) in silkworm. Our study showed that the transcription levels of , , and in the treatment group were lower than those in the control group (6.08%, 61.99%, 83.51%, 99.31% and 71.95%, respectively). The transcription level of was 70.22% for the control group, while that of was upregulated by 3.92-fold. Changes of transcription levels of these genes caused by pyriproxyfen exposure ultimately affect the absorption of nutrients, energy metabolism, ovary development and egg formation of the silkworm, thus leading to reproductive disorders of the silkworm. In general, our study revealed the response of silkworm reproduction to pyriproxyfen exposure and provided a certain reference value for the metabolism of the silkworm to pyriproxyfen.
家蚕（林奈）是一种重要的经济昆虫，也是鳞翅目的代表性模式生物，已被广泛应用于生殖与发育研究。家蚕生殖腺的发育很容易受到许多外部因素的影响，比如化学杀虫剂。在用不同浓度的吡丙醚处理家蚕幼虫后，结果表明，吡丙醚会降低家蚕的产卵数和卵的孵化率，并呈现出浓度效应。吡丙醚暴露会通过减少取食吡丙醚的家蚕卵巢中的卵母细胞和卵原细胞数量，影响卵巢组织的正常发育。我们采用qRT-PCR检测家蚕中与卵巢发育相关的基因（、、和）以及激素调节相关基因（和）的表达。我们的研究表明，处理组中、、和的转录水平低于对照组（分别为6.08%、61.99%、83.51%、99.31%和71.95%）。对照组中基因的转录水平为70.22%，而基因的转录水平上调了3.92倍。吡丙醚暴露引起的这些基因转录水平变化最终影响家蚕的营养吸收、能量代谢、卵巢发育和卵的形成，从而导致家蚕生殖紊乱。总体而言，我们的研究揭示了家蚕生殖对吡丙醚暴露的反应，为家蚕对吡丙醚的代谢提供了一定的参考价值。
