Differentially methylated genomic fragments related with sexual dimorphism of rice pests, Sogatella furcifera

Abstract

Sogatella furcifera (Hovarth) is a major rice pest with sexual dimorphism. The objective of the current research was to monitor differentially cytosine methylation at CCGG sequences in male and female adults of S. furcifera to determine the association between gene methylation and sexual phenotypes using methylation-sensitive representational difference analysis. After the second subtractive hybridization, four differentially methylated DNA bands were obtained and sequenced. Ten different fragments were found. One fragment from the positive hybridization was 120 bp, and highly similar to the tramtrack genes from Nasonia vitripennis. Another fragment from the reverse hybridization was 414 bp, and homologous to the 28S rRNA gene of S. furcifera with a similarity rate as high as 99%. We also discussed how DNA methylation of tramtrack and 28S rRNA genes produced effects on sexual differentiation and development. These results provide potential evidence that DNA methylation of some genes may be related to sexual phenotype variations in S. furcifera and will facilitate future studies on the epigenetic mechanisms of insect sexual dimorphism.

The Draft Genome of Yellow Stem Borer, an Agriculturally Important Pest, Provides Molecular Insights into Its Biology, Development and Specificity Towards Rice for Infestation

“…The regulations of epigenetic mechanisms have not yet been exploited, except in a few studies, for instance, fecundity in N. lugens was sharply lowered after knockdown of Dnmt1 [ 87 ]. Similarly, sexual phenotypic variations in S. furcifera were also related to DNA methylation [ 88 ]. The presence of a higher number of opsins (17) as compared to other insects, namely, mosquitoes, contain 8–9 [ 89 ]; T. castaneum contains only two; and D. melanogaster contains seven [ 76 , 90 ], and the presence of unique long-wavelength opsin gene in YSB determines its specificity in the visual mechanism.…”

Novel Insights into Insect-Microbe Interactions—Role of Epigenomics and Small RNAs

“…In the Chinese white shrimp, Fenneropenaeus chinensis , tissue-specific DNA methylation was observed (He et al, 2015 ). Furthermore, DNA methylation has been reported in many insect species of various orders including Diptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Odonata, and Orthoptera (Field et al, 2004 ; Richards et al, 2008 ; Walsh et al, 2010 ; Xiang et al, 2010 ; Zhang J. et al, 2015 ; Zhang M. et al, 2015 ). In general, methylation levels of invertebrate CpG sites are relatively low, ranging from 0.36–20% (Regev et al, 1998 ), compared to mammalian systems where 60–90% of all CpG dinucleotides are subject to methylation (Suzuki and Bird, 2008 ).…”

Unveiling Nilaparvata lugens Stål Genes Defining Compatible and Incompatible Interactions with Rice through Transcriptome Analysis and Gene Silencing

“…The effect of climate change and other environmental factors can cause heritable epigenetic modifications in insects, enabling a rapid evolution [ 10 ]. In hemipteran insects, including BPH, DNA methylation has been reported to be a crucial epigenetic modification in regulating several physiological processes [ 11 , 12 ]. A recent study has reported that the heritable epigenetic modifications, particularly the stress-induced DNA methylation in BPH, contributed to overall stress resilience and rapid adaptions [ 13 ].…”