Liu Bin, Fu Danyang, Ning Hang, Tang Ming, Chen Hui
College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Xianyang 712100, China.
State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, Guangdong Key Laboratory for Innovative Development and Utilization of Forest Plant Germplasm, College of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China.
Insects. 2021 Sep 19;12(9):844. doi: 10.3390/insects12090844.
The short neuropeptide F (sNPF) is an essential signaling molecule that is evolutionarily conserved and involved in a broad range of physiological functions in the invertebrates, by interacting with sNPF receptors, which belong to G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR). However, the function of sNPF in regulating the food intake of has been unclear. In this study, we cloned and characterized cDNAs encoding sNPF and sNPF receptor in the and made bioinformatics predictions on the deduced amino acid sequences. They had a high degree of similarity to that of Quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) revealed that the transcript levels of both sNPF and sNPFR varied across developmental stages and body parts. In addition, the sNPF and sNPFR expression levels were upregulated in starved beetles, and the expression levels recovered after re-feeding. Furthermore, RNAi knockdown by the injection of sNPF and sNPFR dsRNA into beetles significantly increased mortality and reduced their food intake and body weight, and also caused decrease of glycogen and free fatty acid and increase of trehalose. These results indicate that sNPF signaling pathway plays an important role in the regulation of food intake and provides a potential molecular target for the eco-friendly control strategies of this pest.
短神经肽F（sNPF）是一种重要的信号分子，在进化上保守，通过与属于G蛋白偶联受体（GPCR）的sNPF受体相互作用，参与无脊椎动物的广泛生理功能。然而，sNPF在调节[具体物种名称缺失]食物摄入方面的功能尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们克隆并鉴定了[具体物种名称缺失]中编码sNPF和sNPF受体的cDNA，并对推导的氨基酸序列进行了生物信息学预测。它们与[具体物种名称缺失]的具有高度相似性。定量实时逆转录PCR（qRT-PCR）显示，sNPF和sNPFR的转录水平在不同发育阶段和身体部位有所不同。此外，饥饿甲虫中sNPF和sNPFR的表达水平上调，重新喂食后表达水平恢复。此外，通过向甲虫注射sNPF和sNPFR双链RNA进行RNA干扰敲低，显著增加了死亡率，降低了它们的食物摄入量和体重，还导致糖原和游离脂肪酸减少以及海藻糖增加。这些结果表明，sNPF信号通路在食物摄入调节中起重要作用，并为该害虫的生态友好控制策略提供了潜在的分子靶点。
