State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
J Econ Entomol. 2021 Dec 6;114(6):2562-2570. doi: 10.1093/jee/toab195.
Vitellogenin (Vg) and the target of rapamycin (TOR) are important genes involved in insect reproduction regulation. In this work, the full lengths of the Vg (SfVg) and TOR (SfTOR) genes of the white-backed planthopper Sogatella furcifera were cloned. The expression pattern in females showed that SfVg was highly expressed in fat bodies, and SfTOR was highly expressed in Malpighian tubules. After silencing SfVg or SfTOR, female adults did not deposit eggs. Their ovarian development was delayed, and yolk protein deposition in the oocytes was reduced. However, wild-type females mated with SfTOR-silenced males could lay eggs and produce offsprings normally. The dissections of testes and accessory glands of males with SfTOR knockdown showed that their development was not affected. Therefore, the silencing of the SfVg or SfTOR genes can effectively inhibit female reproduction, but SfTOR knockdown has no significant effect on male reproductive capacity. Furthermore, silencing SfTOR can cause SfVg expression to decrease significantly. All of the above results revealed that SfVg and SfTOR are essential for white-backed planthopper reproduction and may provide a potential target for pest control.
卵黄蛋白原 (Vg) 和雷帕霉素靶蛋白 (TOR) 是参与昆虫生殖调控的重要基因。本研究克隆了白背飞虱 Sogatella furcifera 的全长 Vg (SfVg) 和 TOR (SfTOR) 基因。雌性中的表达模式表明 SfVg 在脂肪体中高度表达，而 SfTOR 在直肠中高度表达。沉默 SfVg 或 SfTOR 后，雌性成虫不再产卵。它们的卵巢发育延迟，卵母细胞中的卵黄蛋白沉积减少。然而，野生型雌性与 SfTOR 沉默雄性交配后可以正常产卵并产生后代。具有 SfTOR 敲低的雄性睾丸和附腺的解剖表明，它们的发育不受影响。因此，沉默 SfVg 或 SfTOR 基因可以有效抑制雌性生殖，但 SfTOR 敲低对雄性生殖能力没有显著影响。此外，沉默 SfTOR 会导致 SfVg 表达显著降低。所有这些结果表明 SfVg 和 SfTOR 对白背飞虱的繁殖至关重要，可能为害虫防治提供潜在的靶标。
