Silencing of Significantly Inhibits Chitin and Fatty Acid Metabolism in Asian Citrus Psyllid, .

Glycogen is a predominant carbohydrate reserve in various organisms, which provides energy for different life activities. Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) is a central player that catalyzes glucose and converts it into glycogen. In this study, a gene was identified from the genome database and named . A reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis showed that was expressed at a high level in the head and egg. The silencing of by RNA interference (RNAi) led to a loss-of-function phenotype. In addition, knockdown decreased trehalase activity, glycogen, trehalose, glucose and free fatty acid content. Moreover, the expression levels of the genes associated with chitin and fatty acid synthesis were significantly downregulated after the silencing of . According to a comparative transcriptomics analysis, 991 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in ds groups compared with ds groups. A KEGG enrichment analysis suggested that these DEGs were primarily involved in carbon and fatty acid metabolism. The clustering analysis of DEGs further confirmed that chitin and fatty acid metabolism-related DEGs were upregulated at 24 h and were downregulated at 48 h. Our results suggest that plays an important role in regulating the chitin and fatty acid metabolism of .