Xu Kang-Kang, Yan Yi, Yan Shu-Yan, Xia Peng-Liang, Yang Wen-Jia, Li Can, Yang Hong
Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory for Agricultural Pest Management of Mountainous Region, Institute of Entomology, Guizhou University, Guiyang, China.
Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory for Rare Animal and Economic Insect of the Mountainous Region, College of Biology and Environmental Engineering, Guiyang University, Guiyang, China.
Front Physiol. 2021 Oct 7;12:765819. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2021.765819. eCollection 2021.
Serine/threonine kinase Akt, an important component of the insulin signaling pathway, plays an essential role in many physiological processes. In this study, we identified and characterized an gene (designated ) from the cigarette beetle, . contains a 1614 bp open reading frame encoding a 537 amino acid protein that possesses a conserved pleckstrin homology domain and a serine/threonine kinase domain. The expression of was high in pupal stages and peaked in day-4 female pupae. In adult tissues, was highly expressed in the thorax, ovary, and midgut. The expression of was induced by methoprene or bovine insulin , but significantly decreased by 20-hydroxyecdysone. RNA interference-mediated knockdown of resulted in severely blocked ovarian development and reduced fecundity and hatchability. The vitellogenin (Vg) content and juvenile hormone (JH) titers of -depletion beetles were decreased, and expressions of and four JH signaling and biosynthetic genes were significantly decreased. Silencing of reduced the amounts of glucose, glycogen, and trehalose in female adults and affected the expressions of seven key carbohydrate metabolic genes. Taken together, it is inferred that implicates in reproduction by modification of Vg synthesis, juvenile hormone production and carbohydrate metabolism.
丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶Akt是胰岛素信号通路的重要组成部分，在许多生理过程中发挥着重要作用。在本研究中，我们从烟草甲中鉴定并表征了一个基因（命名为 ）。该基因包含一个1614 bp的开放阅读框，编码一个537个氨基酸的蛋白质，该蛋白质具有保守的普列克底物蛋白同源结构域和丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶结构域。该基因在蛹期表达量较高，在4日龄雌蛹中达到峰值。在成虫组织中，该基因在胸部、卵巢和中肠中高表达。该基因的表达受甲氧普烯或牛胰岛素的诱导，但受20-羟基蜕皮激素的显著抑制。RNA干扰介导的该基因敲低导致卵巢发育严重受阻，繁殖力和孵化率降低。该基因缺失的甲虫的卵黄原蛋白（Vg）含量和保幼激素（JH）滴度降低，并导致该基因以及四个JH信号和生物合成基因的表达显著下降。该基因的沉默降低了雌性成虫体内葡萄糖、糖原和海藻糖的含量，并影响了七个关键碳水化合物代谢基因的表达。综上所述，推测该基因通过调节Vg合成、保幼激素产生和碳水化合物代谢参与烟草甲的繁殖过程。
