Liu Wei-Ting, Chen Cheng-Chen, Ji Dar-Der, Tu Wu-Chun
Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei 112, Taiwan.
Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan.
iScience. 2022 May 30;25(6):104478. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104478. eCollection 2022 Jun 17.
This study's aim was to investigate whether the cecropin-prophenoloxidase regulatory mechanism is a cross-species physiological function among mosquitoes. BLAST and phylogenetic analysis revealed that three mosquito cecropin Bs, namely cecropin B (Aalcec B), cecropin B2 (Ascec B2), and cecropin B1 (Cqcec B1), play crucial roles in cuticle formation during pupal development via the regulation of prophenoloxidase 3 (PPO 3). The effects of cecropin B knockdown were rescued in a cross-species manner by injecting synthetic cecropin B peptide into pupae. Further investigations showed that these three cecropin B peptides bind to TTGG(A/C)A motifs within each of the PPO 3 DNA fragments obtained from these three mosquitoes. These results suggest that Aalcec B, Ascec B2, and Cqcec B1 each play an important role as a transcription factor in cuticle formation and that similar cecropin-prophenoloxidase regulatory mechanisms exist in multiple mosquito species.
本研究的目的是调查天蚕素-酚氧化酶原调节机制是否为蚊子之间的一种跨物种生理功能。BLAST和系统发育分析表明，三种蚊子天蚕素B，即天蚕素B（Aalcec B）、天蚕素B2（Ascec B2）和天蚕素B1（Cqcec B1），通过调节酚氧化酶原3（PPO 3）在蛹发育过程中的表皮形成中发挥关键作用。通过向蛹中注射合成天蚕素B肽，以跨物种方式挽救了天蚕素B敲低的影响。进一步研究表明，这三种天蚕素B肽与从这三种蚊子获得的每个PPO 3 DNA片段内的TTGG(A/C)A基序结合。这些结果表明，Aalcec B、Ascec B2和Cqcec B1在表皮形成中作为转录因子各自发挥重要作用，并且在多种蚊子物种中存在类似的天蚕素-酚氧化酶原调节机制。
