Guizhou Provincial Key Laboratory for Agricultural Pest Management of Mountainous Regions, Institute of Entomology, Guizhou University, 550025, Guizhou, China.
Sci Rep. 2024 Nov 20;14(1):28708. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-78416-0.
Akt (also known as protein kinase B) belongs to the multifunctional serine/threonine kinase family and is an important component of the insulin signaling pathway that plays a key role in many biological processes such as cell growth, proliferation, and survival. However, few studies have reported the effect of Akt on reproduction in Hemiptera. In this study, we cloned and characterized the Akt gene from Coridius chinensis (CcAkt). The open reading frame of CcAkt has a length of 1,563 bp and encodes 520 amino acids. It has a conserved pleckstrin homology domain (PH), catalytic domain of serine/threonine protein kinases (S_TKc), and extension of Ser/Thr-type protein kinases (S_TK_X). Phylogenetic analysis showed that CcAkt and HhAkt of Halyomorpha halys had the highest similarity. Analysis of temporal and spatial expression patterns revealed that CcAkt is expressed throughout development and in various tissues of C. chinensis adults. CcAkt was highly expressed in the female adult and the fourth-instar nymph, as well as in the testis and ovary of C. chinensis. Injection of bovine insulin and methoprene induced the CcAkt expression, whereas that of 20-hydroxyecdysone significantly reduced the CcAkt expression. These three hormones, however, induced the expression of vitellogenin (Vg) and vitellogenin receptor (VgR). In unmated females, knockdown of CcAkt resulted in decreased expression of CcVg and CcVgR, stunted the development of the ovarioles, decreased the number of eggs and hatching rate. These findings from RNA interference experiment suggested that CcAkt may be involved in regulating the reproduction of C. chinensis.
Akt（也称为蛋白激酶 B）属于多功能丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶家族，是胰岛素信号通路的重要组成部分，在细胞生长、增殖和存活等许多生物学过程中发挥关键作用。然而，关于 Akt 对半翅目昆虫生殖的影响的研究较少。本研究从中华稻缘蝽（Coridius chinensis）中克隆和鉴定了 Akt 基因（CcAkt）。CcAkt 的开放阅读框长 1563bp，编码 520 个氨基酸。它具有保守的 pleckstrin 同源结构域（PH）、丝氨酸/苏氨酸蛋白激酶的催化结构域（S_TKc）和 Ser/Thr 型蛋白激酶的延伸结构域（S_TK_X）。系统进化分析表明，CcAkt 与烟粉虱（Halyomorpha halys）的 HhAkt 具有最高的相似性。时空表达模式分析表明，CcAkt 在中华稻缘蝽的整个发育过程和成虫的各种组织中均有表达。CcAkt 在雌性成虫和 4 龄若虫、中华稻缘蝽的睾丸和卵巢中表达量较高。注射牛胰岛素和灭幼脲可诱导 CcAkt 的表达，而 20-羟基蜕皮酮则显著降低 CcAkt 的表达。这三种激素均诱导了卵黄原蛋白（Vg）和卵黄原蛋白受体（VgR）的表达。在未交配的雌性个体中，CcAkt 的敲低导致 CcVg 和 CcVgR 的表达降低，卵巢小管发育受阻，卵的数量减少，孵化率降低。RNAi 实验的结果表明，CcAkt 可能参与了中华稻缘蝽的生殖调控。
