CAS Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
CAS Center for Excellence in Biotic Interactions, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Insect Sci. 2023 Aug;30(4):901-911. doi: 10.1111/1744-7917.13179. Epub 2023 Feb 28.
Sex-determination pathways are extremely diverse. Understanding the mechanism of sex determination in insects is important for genetic manipulation of the pest population and for breeding of economically valuable insects. Although sex determination has been well characterized in the model species Drosophila melanogaster, little is known about this pathway in Stratiomyidae. In the present study, we first identified the Drosophila intersex (ix) homolog in Hermetia illucens, also known as the black soldier fly, which belongs to the Stratiomyidae family and which is an important insect for the conversion of various organic wastes. Phylogenetic analyses and multiple sequence alignment revealed that Hiix is conserved compared with Drosophila. We showed that Hiix is highly expressed in internal genitalia. Disruption of the Hiix gene using CRISPR/Cas9 resulted in female-specific defects in external genitalia and abnormal and undersized ovaries. Taken together, our study furthers our understanding of sex determination in insects and could facilitate breeding of H. illucens.
性别决定途径极其多样化。了解昆虫性别决定的机制对于害虫种群的遗传操纵和经济价值昆虫的繁殖都很重要。尽管在模式物种黑腹果蝇中已经很好地描述了性别决定，但在 Stratiomyidae 中对该途径知之甚少。在本研究中，我们首先鉴定了 Hermetia illucens（又称黑蝇）中的果蝇雌雄同体（ix）同源物，黑蝇属于 Stratiomyidae 科，是一种重要的昆虫，可用于转化各种有机废物。系统发育分析和多重序列比对表明，Hiix 与果蝇相比具有保守性。我们表明，Hiix 在内部生殖器官中高度表达。使用 CRISPR/Cas9 破坏 Hiix 基因导致外部生殖器官出现雌性特异性缺陷以及异常和小的卵巢。总之，我们的研究增进了我们对昆虫性别决定的理解，并可能有助于黑蝇的繁殖。
