Department of Entomology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
Department of Entomology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel.
Elife. 2023 Jan 19;12:e83469. doi: 10.7554/eLife.83469.
Protein feeding is critical for male reproductive success in many insect species. However, how protein affects the reproduction remains largely unknown. Using as the study model, we investigated how protein feeding regulated sex pheromone synthesis. We show that protein ingestion is essential for sex pheromone synthesis in male. While protein feeding or deprivation did not affect abundance, transcriptome analysis revealed that sarcosine dehydrogenase (Sardh) in protein-fed males regulates the biosynthesis of sex pheromones by increasing glycine and threonine (sex pheromone precursors) contents. RNAi-mediated loss-of-function of Sardh decreases glycine, threonine, and sex pheromone contents and results in decreased mating ability in males. The study links male feeding behavior with discrete patterns of gene expression that plays role in sex pheromone synthesis, which in turn translates to successful copulatory behavior of the males.
蛋白质摄入对许多昆虫物种的雄性生殖成功至关重要。然而，蛋白质如何影响繁殖在很大程度上仍是未知的。我们以 为研究模型，研究了蛋白质喂养如何调节性信息素的合成。我们发现，蛋白质摄入对于雄性的性信息素合成是必不可少的。虽然蛋白质的摄入或剥夺并不影响 的丰度，但转录组分析表明，蛋白质喂养雄性中的肌氨酸脱氢酶 (Sardh) 通过增加甘氨酸和苏氨酸（性信息素前体）的含量来调节性信息素的生物合成。Sardh 的 RNAi 介导的功能丧失会降低甘氨酸、苏氨酸和性信息素的含量，并导致雄性交配能力下降。该研究将雄性的摄食行为与特定的基因表达模式联系起来，这些模式在性信息素合成中发挥作用，进而转化为雄性成功的交配行为。
