Analysis of the Gynaephora qinghaiensis pupae immune transcriptome in response to parasitization by Thektogaster sp

Abstract

As a pest on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Gynaephora qinghaiensis causes severe damage to grassland vegetation and its pupae are also natural hosts of Thektogaster sp. To successfully parasitize, endoparasitoids generally introduce or secrete multiple parasitic factors into the host body during the spawning stage to suppress the host immune response. To study the parasitic effects of Thektogaster sp. on G. qinghaiensis, a transcriptome analysis of immunerelated genes in parasitized and nonparasitized G. qinghaiensis pupae was performed. A total of 371,260,704 clean reads were assembled into 118,144 unigenes with an average length of 884.33 base pairs. Of these, 23,660 unigenes were annotated in at least one database and 94,484 unigenes were not annotated in any databases. These findings indicated that the majority of the genetic resources (79.97% of all unigenes) in Gynaephora should be further explored. Parasitization significantly affected the transcriptional profile of G. qinghaiensis pupae. The present study identified 12,322 differentially expressed genes and 57 immune-related genes were identified in parasitized G. qinghaiensis pupae. Most immune-related genes were downregulated, potentially resulting from the inhibitory effect of Thektogaster sp. on G. qinghaiensis pupae after parasitization. Overall, the transcriptome analysis sheds valuable light on the molecular mechanisms of G. qinghaiensis parasitization by Thektogaster sp. and promotes the development of novel Arch. Insect Biochem. Physiol. 2019;100:e21533.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/arch

Antibiotics accelerate growth at the expense of immunity

“…In the hornworm ( Manduca sexta ), C-type lectins have been shown to bind bacterial lipopolysaccharide, inducing agglutination of bacteria and yeast, helping haemocytes eliminate infections through phagocytosis [ 57 ]. More recently, transcriptome analyses of Gynaephora qinghaiensis showed C-type lectins being downregulated in response to parasitism [ 58 ]. By contrast, the cabbage looper ( Trichoplusia ni ) showed a strong upregulation C-type lectins when infected by baculovirus AcMNPV [ 59 ].…”

“…In Lepidoptera, the most commonly reported peptides against various microbial infections are attacins, cecropins, lebocins, gloverins, gallerimycins, hemolyn and defensins [ 58 , 64 ]. In this study, no known antimicrobial peptides could be detected to have been induced.…”

Multi-Omic Identification of Venom Proteins Collected from Artificial Hosts of a Parasitoid Wasp

“…Many species of parasitoid wasps are currently reported to provide biological control services in agroecosystems [ 4 , 5 ]. Parasitoid wasps are one of the largest groups of venomous animals, in which venoms have evolved independently in as many as two dozen lineages to serve predation, defense, communication, and competition [ 1 , 3 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Parasitoid wasp venom, as one of key female-associated virulence factors, is stored in a sac-like reservoir and injected into the host hemocoel during parasitism, in order to create a favorable environment for the development of parasitoid progeny [ 9 ].…”