Institute of Applied Biology, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China.
Shanxi Key Laboratory of Nucleic Acid Biopesticides, Taiyuan 030006, China.
Genes (Basel). 2024 Jun 27;15(7):850. doi: 10.3390/genes15070850.
The epidermal cells of insects are polarized epithelial cells that play a pivotal role in the insect's molting process. Sinuous, a pivotal structural protein involved in the formation of septate junctions among epithelial cells, is essential for its physiological function. In this study, to determine whether sinuous participates in the regulation of insect molting, we identified the sinuous gene, , in , which encodes a protein belonging to the claudin family and shares 62.6% identity with 's sinuous protein. is expressed in multiple tissues, and its expression level in the integument significantly increases prior to molting. Knockdown of in results in larval mortality during molting. Furthermore, hematoxylin and eosin and chitin staining demonstrate that the downregulation of led to a prolonged degradation process of the old cuticle during the molting process. Electron microscopy analysis further revealed that knockdown of disrupts the formation of septate junctions among epidermal cells, which are a monolayer of polarized epithelial cells, which may hinder the functionality of epidermal cells during the process of molting. In summary, these findings suggest that plays a role in nymph molting by regulating the formation of septate junctions among epidermal cells.
昆虫的表皮细胞是极化的上皮细胞，在昆虫蜕皮过程中起着关键作用。Sinuous 是一种参与上皮细胞之间的隔膜连接形成的关键结构蛋白，对于其生理功能至关重要。在这项研究中，为了确定 sinuous 是否参与昆虫蜕皮的调节，我们在 中鉴定了 sinuous 基因 ，该基因编码属于紧密连接蛋白家族的蛋白质，与 's sinuous 蛋白具有 62.6%的同一性。 在多个组织中表达，其在表皮中的表达水平在蜕皮前显著增加。在 中敲低 会导致蜕皮期间幼虫死亡。此外，苏木精和伊红以及几丁质染色表明 下调导致蜕皮过程中旧表皮的降解过程延长。电子显微镜分析进一步表明，敲低 会破坏表皮细胞之间的隔膜连接的形成，而表皮细胞是一层极化的上皮细胞，这可能会在蜕皮过程中阻碍表皮细胞的功能。总之，这些发现表明 通过调节表皮细胞之间的隔膜连接的形成在若虫蜕皮中发挥作用。
