Zhou Ping, Zong Xin, Yan Shuo, Zhang Junzheng, Wang Dan, Shen Jie
Department of Plant Biosecurity and MARA Key Laboratory of Surveillance and Management for Plant Quarantine Pests, College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
Department of Plant Biosecurity and MARA Key Laboratory of Surveillance and Management for Plant Quarantine Pests, College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
Insect Biochem Mol Biol. 2023 Oct;161:104003. doi: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2023.104003. Epub 2023 Aug 30.
Wing dimorphism occurs in insects as a survival strategy to adapt to environmental changes. In response to environmental cues, mother aphids transmit signals to their offspring, and the offspring either emerge as winged adults or develop as wingless adults with degeneration of the wing primordia in the early instar stage. However, how the wing morph is determined in the early instar stage is still unclear. Here, we established a surgical sampling method to obtain precise wing primordium tissues for transcriptome analysis. We identified Wnt as a regulator of wing determination in the early second instar stage in the pea aphid. Inhibiting Wnt signaling via knockdown of Wnt2, Wnt11b, the Wnt receptor-encoding gene fz2 or the downstream targets vg and omb resulted in a decreased proportion of winged aphids. Activation of Wnt signaling via knockdown of miR-8, an inhibitor of the Wnt/Wg pathway, led to an increased proportion of winged aphids. Furthermore, the wing primordia of wingless nymphs underwent apoptosis in the early second instar, and cell death was activated by knockdown of fz2 under the wing-inducing condition. These results indicate that the developmental plasticity of aphid wings is modulated by the intrinsic Wnt pathway in response to environmental challenges.
翅二型现象在昆虫中作为一种适应环境变化的生存策略而出现。响应环境信号，蚜虫母体将信号传递给后代，后代要么发育为有翅成虫，要么发育为无翅成虫，其翅原基在低龄期退化。然而，在低龄期翅型是如何确定的仍不清楚。在此，我们建立了一种手术取样方法，以获取用于转录组分析的精确翅原基组织。我们鉴定出Wnt是豌豆蚜二龄初期翅型确定的调节因子。通过敲低Wnt2、Wnt11b、编码Wnt受体的基因fz2或下游靶标vg和omb来抑制Wnt信号，导致有翅蚜虫的比例降低。通过敲低Wnt/Wg途径的抑制剂miR-8来激活Wnt信号，导致有翅蚜虫的比例增加。此外，无翅若蚜的翅原基在二龄初期发生凋亡，并且在诱导翅形成的条件下，敲低fz2会激活细胞死亡。这些结果表明，蚜虫翅的发育可塑性受内在Wnt途径调节，以应对环境挑战。
