Identification and temporal expression profiles of cuticular proteins in the endoparasitoid wasp, Microplitis mediator

Abstract

Recently, parasitoid wasp species Microplitis mediator has evoked increasing research attention due to its possible use in the control of Lepidoptera insects. Because insect development involves changes in cuticle composition, identification and expression analysis of M. mediator cuticular proteins may clarify the mechanisms involved in parasite development processes. We found 70 cuticular proteins from the M. mediator transcriptome and divided them into seven distinct families. Expression profiling indicated that most of these cuticular protein genes have expression peaks specific for one particular developmental stage of M. mediator. Eggs and pupae have the highest number of transcriptionally active cuticular protein genes (47 and 52 respectively). Only 12 of these genes maintained high expression activity during late larval development. Functional analysis of two larval proteins, MmCPR3 and MmCPR14, suggested their important role in the proper organization of the cuticle layers of larvae. During M. mediator larval development, normal cuticle formation can be supported by a limited number of cuticular proteins.

Genomic and Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals Cuticular Protein Genes Responding to Different Insecticides in Fall Armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda

“…Hierarchical clustering analysis indicated that six clusters of CP genes with dynamic expression profiles were strikingly observed across developmental stages. Stage-specific expression of CP genes was also detected in other insects, such as Microplitis mediator, Bactrocera dorsalis, Dendrolimus punctatus and Nilaparvata lugens [14,31,34,35]. During larval to pupal development of FAWs, the expression pattern of the majority of CP genes had major changes.…”

“…Few CP genes were abundant in nearly all life stages, suggesting a significant role in general cuticle synthesis. It was documented that CP genes that displayed the most abundant expression in specific tissue at particular developmental stages played important roles associated with such tissues during specific developmental periods [12,14,24,31,33,34]. Thus, further investigation into unravelling the expression of CP genes between premolt/eclosion and post-molt/eclosion at particular developmental stages and multiple tissues is essential to provide deep insights into the functional perspectives of CPs in FAW.…”

“…The most abundant family is known as CPs with the Rebers-Riddiford motif (CPR) that can be assigned into three subfamilies, RR-1, RR-2 and RR-3 [10,11]. The other families include CPAP analogous to peritrophins (CPAP1 and CPAP3), CPs with the Tweedle motif (CPT), CPF with a 44 aa consensus, CPFL (CPF-like) with a conserved C-terminal region similar to CPF but lacking the consensus, CPCFC with C-x (5)-C motifs repeated two or three times, CPs consisting of an 18 aa motif, alanine-rich CPs of low complexity (CPLCA), CPs of low complexity with two invariant glycine residues in the conserved domain (CPLCG), CPs of low complexity with an invariant tryptophan in the conserved domain (CPLCW), proline-rich CPs of low complexity (CPLCP), CPs with well-conserved cysteine residues (CPCFC), glycine rich CP (CPG), CPH comprised of hypothetical CPs and Apidermin restricted to Hymenoptera [11][12][13][14]. As one of the large and diverse families in insects, CPs usually account for about 1% of the protein coding genes in their genomes [15].…”

Microbiota modulates gut immunity and promotes baculovirus infection in Helicoverpa armigera

“…The proteins associated with HearNPV BVs and ODVs have been identified (Hou et al ., 2013). In our previous studies, the immune system of H. armigera and its interaction with exogenous biological factors have also been studied (Xiong et al ., 2015; Volovych et al ., 2019; Du et al ., 2020; Lin et al ., 2020; Wang et al ., 2020), and the immune mechanisms of the in vivo systemic phase of BV infection were revealed in H. armigera fat body and hemolymph (Xing et al ., 2017; Yuan et al ., 2017). Since midgut is the primary infection site of baculovirus (Wang & Hu, 2019), it is reasonable to predict that gut microbiota may play a role in baculovirus infection by modulating host immune responses.…”

A new bacteria‐free strategy induced by MaGal2 facilitates pinewood nematode escape immune response from its vector beetle

“…Double‐stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) were synthesized as previously described (Volovych et al ., 2020; Wang et al ., 2019). Briefly, the sense and antisense primers were designed to generate cDNA fragments of MaGal2 by PCR.…”