Deng Xuan, Liu Lianlian, Deng Jing, Zha Xingfu
State Key Laboratory of Resource Insects, College of Sericulture, Textile and Biomass Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
Insects. 2023 May 8;14(5):443. doi: 10.3390/insects14050443.
Antimicrobial peptides are molecules with strong antimicrobial activity and are of substantial interest for the immunization of insects. As a type of dipteran insect that can turn organic waste into animal feed, the black soldier fly (BSF) can "turn waste into treasure". In this study, we investigated the antimicrobial activity of the antimicrobial peptide genes, and of BSF in silkworms, by overexpressing the genes specifically in the midgut. Changes in the mRNA levels of the transgenic silkworms after infection with were evaluated using transcriptome sequencing. The results showed that had stronger antimicrobial activity than . KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the differentially expressed genes in the transgenic overexpressed silkworm lines from the D9L strain were mainly enriched in the starch and sucrose metabolism, pantothenate and CoA biosynthesis, drug metabolism (other enzymes), biotin metabolism, platinum drug resistance, galactose metabolism, and pancreatic secretion pathways. In addition, immune-related genes were up-regulated in this transgenic silkworm strain. Our study may provide new insights for future immune studies on insects.
抗菌肽是具有强大抗菌活性的分子，对昆虫免疫具有重要意义。黑水虻作为一种能将有机废物转化为动物饲料的双翅目昆虫，可以“变废为宝”。在本研究中，我们通过在蚕的中肠中特异性过表达抗菌肽基因，研究了这些基因以及黑水虻抗菌肽基因在蚕体内的抗菌活性。利用转录组测序评估了感染后转基因蚕的mRNA水平变化。结果表明，[具体基因名称1]比[具体基因名称2]具有更强的抗菌活性。KEGG富集分析表明，来自D9L品系的转基因过表达[具体基因名称1]的蚕品系中差异表达基因主要富集在淀粉和蔗糖代谢、泛酸和辅酶A生物合成、药物代谢（其他酶）、生物素代谢、铂耐药性、半乳糖代谢和胰腺分泌途径。此外，该转基因蚕品系中的免疫相关基因上调。我们的研究可能为未来昆虫免疫研究提供新的见解。
