Wu Wei, Mao Qianzhuo, Ye Zhuang-Xin, Liao Zhenfeng, Shan Hong-Wei, Li Jun-Min, Zhang Chuan-Xi, Chen Jian-Ping
State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Products Safety, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MARA, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Green Plant Protection, Institute of Plant Virology, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China.
State Key Laboratory for Sustainable Control of Pest and Disease, Institute of Virology and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China.
Elife. 2025 May 28;13:RP99639. doi: 10.7554/eLife.99639.
In nature, insects face immense predation pressure, where visual cues play a vital role in predators locating them. To counter this threat, insects employ a variety of nano- and microstructures on their cuticular layer to manipulate and interact with light, enhancing antireflective properties and providing camouflage or reducing detectability by predators. Leafhoppers have a unique extracuticular coating called brochosome, yet its antireflective functions and protein composition remain unclear. Our study demonstrates strong antireflective properties of brochosomes, effectively reducing reflectance on the cuticle surface, especially in the ultraviolet spectrum, to improve evasion from visual predators. Furthermore, we identify four novel structural proteins of the brochosome (BSM) for the first time. Inhibiting their synthesis by RNAi alters brochosome morphology, impacting the optical properties of the cuticle surface. Evolutionary origin analysis of BSM suggests that brochosomes likely originated from a process involving duplication-divergence. Our study reveals that leafhoppers employ a unique camouflage strategy by secreting brochosomes as antireflection nanocoatings, enabling them to evade natural predators and contributing to their evolutionary success.
在自然界中，昆虫面临着巨大的捕食压力，视觉线索在捕食者定位它们的过程中起着至关重要的作用。为了应对这种威胁，昆虫在其角质层上利用各种纳米和微结构来操纵光线并与之相互作用，增强抗反射性能，并提供伪装或降低被捕食者发现的可能性。叶蝉有一种独特的角质层外涂层，称为微毛体，但它的抗反射功能和蛋白质组成仍不清楚。我们的研究表明，微毛体具有很强的抗反射性能，能有效降低角质层表面的反射率，尤其是在紫外光谱中，以提高躲避视觉捕食者的能力。此外，我们首次鉴定出微毛体的四种新型结构蛋白（BSM）。通过RNA干扰抑制它们的合成会改变微毛体的形态，影响角质层表面的光学性质。对BSM的进化起源分析表明，微毛体可能起源于一个涉及复制-分化的过程。我们的研究表明，叶蝉通过分泌微毛体作为抗反射纳米涂层采用了一种独特的伪装策略，使它们能够躲避自然捕食者，并促成了它们在进化上的成功。
