Zhuo Ji-Chong, Zhang Hou-Hong, Hu Qing-Ling, Zhang Jin-Li, Lu Jia-Bao, Li Han-Jing, Xie Yu-Cheng, Wang Wei-Wei, Zhang Yan, Wang Hai-Qiang, Huang Hai-Jian, Lu Gang, Chen Jian-Ping, Li Jun-Min, Tu Zhi-Jian, Zhang Chuan-Xi
State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-Products, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of Ministry of Agriculture and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Plant Virology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China.
Institute of Insect Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Sci Adv. 2021 Nov 26;7(48):eabf9237. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abf9237.
The mechanism of sex determination remains poorly understood in hemimetabolous insects. Here, in the brown planthopper (BPH), , a hemipteran rice pest, we identified a feminizing switch or a () that encodes a serine/arginine-rich protein. Knockdown of in female nymphs resulted in masculinization of both the somatic morphology and splicing. The female-specific isoform of , , is maternally deposited and zygotically transcribed. Depletion of by maternal RNAi or CRISPR-Cas9 resulted in female-specific embryonic lethality. Knockdown of an hnRNP40 family gene named () also conferred masculinization. In vitro experiments showed that an isoform, NlFMD2, bound the RAAGAA repeat motif in the pre-mRNA and formed a protein complex with NlFMD-F to modulate splicing, suggesting that NlFMD2 may function as an RNA binding partner of the feminizing switch NlFMD. Our results provide novel insights into the diverse mechanisms of insect sex determination.
在半变态昆虫中，性别决定机制仍未得到充分理解。在此，我们以半翅目水稻害虫褐飞虱（BPH）为研究对象，鉴定出一个雌性化开关或一个编码富含丝氨酸/精氨酸蛋白的基因（）。在雌性若虫中敲低该基因会导致体细胞形态和剪接的雄性化。该基因的雌性特异性同工型，，由母体沉积并在合子中进行转录。通过母体RNA干扰或CRISPR-Cas9耗尽该基因会导致雌性特异性胚胎致死。敲低一个名为（）的hnRNP40家族基因也会导致雄性化。体外实验表明，一种同工型NlFMD2与该基因前体mRNA中的RAAGAA重复基序结合，并与NlFMD-F形成蛋白质复合物以调节剪接，这表明NlFMD2可能作为雌性化开关NlFMD的RNA结合伴侣发挥作用。我们的研究结果为昆虫性别决定的多种机制提供了新的见解。
