The zona pellucida protein piopio regulates the metamorphosis and reproduction in Tribolium castaneum.

The zona pellucida domain protein piopio (Pio) was only reported to mediate the adhesion of the apical epithelial surface and the overlying apical extracellular matrix in Drosophila melanogaster, but the developmental roles of Pio were poorly understood in insects. To address this issue, we comprehensively analyzed the function of Pio in Tribolium castaneum. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that pio exhibited one-to-one orthologous relationship among insects.

Arpc2 integrates ecdysone and juvenile hormone metabolism to influence metamorphosis and reproduction in Tribolium castaneum.

Background: Actin-related protein 2/3 complex regulates actin polymerization and the formation of branched actin networks. However, the function and evolutionary relationship of this complex subunit 2 (Arpc2) has been poorly understood in insects.

Results: To address these issues, we performed comprehensive analysis of Arpc2 in Tribolium castaneum.

Transcriptome-wide identification of development related genes and pathways in Tribolium castaneum.

The growth and development in Tribolium castaneum were poorly understood at the transcriptome level. Currently, we identified 15,756, 9941 and 10,080 differentially expressed transcripts between late eggs VS early larvae, late larvae VS early pupae, and late pupae VS early adults of T. castaneum by RNA-seq, which was confirmed by qRT-PCR analysis on nine genes expression.

Eukaryotic initiation factor 6 modulates the metamorphosis and reproduction of Tribolium castaneum.

Eukaryotic initiation factor 6 (eIF6) is necessary for ribosome biogenesis and translation, but eIF6 has been poorly elucidated in insects. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that eIF6 originated from one ancestral gene among animals and exhibited specific duplication in Tribolium, yielding three homologues in Tribolium castaneum, eIF6, eIF6-like 1 (eIF6l1), and eIF6-like 2 (eIF6l2). It was found that eIF6 was highly expressed in the embryonic and early adult stages, eIF6l1 had peak expression at the adult stage, and eIF6l2 showed peak expression in late adults of T.