The insect glycoside hydrolase family 20 --acetylhexosaminidases (HEXs) are key enzymes involved in chitin degradation. In this study, nine genes in were identified by genome-wide analysis. Bioinformatic analysis based on the transcriptome database indicated that each gene had a distinct expression pattern. qRT-PCR was performed to detect the expression pattern of the -- (). was highly expressed in chitin-rich tissues, such as the epidermis. In the wing disc and epidermis, has the highest expression level during the wandering stage. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated deletion was used to study the function. In the -knockout line, 39.2% of female heterozygotes had small and curly wings. The ultrastructure of a cross-section showed that the lack of affected the stratification of the wing membrane and the formation of the correct wing vein structure. The molting process of the homozygotes was severely hindered during the larva to pupa transition. Epidermal sections showed that the endocuticle of the pupa was not degraded in the mutant. These results indicate that is involved in chitin catabolism and plays an important role in the molting and wing development of the silkworm, which highlights the potential of as a pest control target.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms23073850 | DOI Listing |
Front Physiol
November 2024
Key Laboratory of Surveillance and Management of Invasive Alien Species in Guizhou Education Department, College of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Guiyang University, Guiyang, China.
Insect Sci
September 2024
Institute of Entomology, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.
Hemiptera is one of the most significant orders of insect pests, including whiteflies, true bugs, aphids, planthoppers, psyllids, and so forth, which have led to substantial economic losses in agricultural industries and have significantly affected food yields through their ability to suck the phloem sap of crops and transmit numerous bacterial and viral pathogens. Therefore, explorations of pest-specific, eco-friendly and easy-to-adopt technologies for hemipteran pest control are urgently needed. To the best of our knowledge, microRNAs (miRNAs), which are endogenous non-coding small RNAs approximately 22 nucleotides in length, are involved in regulating gene expression via the direct recognition and binding of the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of target messenger RNAs (mRNAs) or by acting as a center of a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network at the post-transcriptional level.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS Genet
September 2024
Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Cells and Developmental Biology, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao, China.
Holometabolous insects undergo morphological remodeling from larvae to pupae and to adults with typical changes in the cuticle; however, the mechanism is unclear. Using the lepidopteran agricultural insect Helicoverpa armigera, cotton bollworm, as a model, we revealed that the transcription factor RUNT-like (encoded by Runt-like) regulates the development of the pupal cuticle via promoting a pupal cuticle protein gene (HaPcp) expression. The HaPcp was highly expressed in the epidermis and wing during metamorphosis and was found being involved in pupal cuticle development by RNA interference (RNAi) analysis in larvae.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiol Open
November 2024
Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
Pestic Biochem Physiol
August 2024
Education Ministry Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Crop Diseases and Pests/State & Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Green Pesticide Invention and Application, Department of Entomology, College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China. Electronic address:
To accommodate growth, insects must periodically shed their exoskeletons. In Manduca sexta, Drosophila melanogaster and Tribolium castaneum, Bursicon (Burs)/ Partner of bursicon (Pburs)-LGR2 signal is an indispensable component for the proper execution of ecdysis behavior during adult eclosion. Nevertheless, the behavioral events and the roles of bursicon signaling in other insects deserve further exploration.
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