Rop plays conserved roles in the reproductive and digestive processes of spider mites

Abstract

Ras opposite (Rop) is known to play an essential role in regulating vesicle trafficking, including synaptic transmission and general secretion. The fundamental roles of Rop have been confirmed by the observation that null mutations in many organisms generate lethal phenotypes during embryogenesis. However, the effects of Rop during the postembryonic stages, especially in non-model organisms, remain largely unknown.Here, we provide new data that enhance our understanding of Rop's roles in the adults of multiple species of Tetranychus spider mites (Acari: Tetranychidae), a class of notorious agricultural pests. Our in silico and experimental evidence demonstrated that Rop is under purifying selection and is highly conserved in Tetranychus spp. RNA interference experiments showed that Rop is required for maintaining normal fecundity but has no significant effect on survival. We further demonstrate that knockdown of Rop darkens the body color of spider mites and blocks the excretion of fecal pellets, which is likely to be related to an abnormality in the excretion of food waste in the digestive system. Overall, our findings clarify novel functions of a vesicle trafficking-related gene in the adult stage of multiple Tetranychus species and highlight the need to evaluate the roles of essential genes in various organisms.

The immune response mechanism of Nilaparvata lugens against a combined infection of rice ragged stunt virus and Metarhizium anisopliae

“…46,54,55 RNAi is an efficient way to explore gene functions and the RNAigenerated bio-pesticides have great potential for sustainable pest management. [56][57][58] BPHs possess systematic RNAi 59 and many studies have proved that dsRNA has strong interference efficiency in suppressing the expression of the target gene in BPHs. [60][61][62] In our study, RNAi effectively suppressed NlKPI from 2 dpi (Fig.…”

Rice ragged stunt virus mediates immune responses in Nilaparvata lugens against Metarhizium anisopliae YTTR infection: evidence from two novel genes NlK-serpin and NlVenomase

“…The role of fat body in insect immunity has been widely veri ed in many researches (Li et al, 2019;Skowronek et al, 2021). Hence, we speculated these two genes play an immune role against EPF and participate in the process of RRSV meditated immune response in BPH to M. anisopliae YTTR infection (Li et RNAi was an e cient way to explore gene functions and it was considered a new generation of biopesticides having great potential for sustainable pest management (Xia et al, 2022;Zotti et al, 2018;Wang et al, 2014). BPH possess systematic RNAi (Xu et al, 2013), and many researches have proved that dsRNA has strong interference e ciency to suppress the expression of target gene in BPH (Shen et al, 2021;Zha et al, 2011;Liu et al, 2010).…”

GARP: A family of glycine and alanine‐rich proteins that helps spider mites feed on plants

“…The quality of the dsRNA was confirmed by 1% agarose gel electrophoresis and the concentration was measured using a Nanovue UV‐Vis spectrophotometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific). RNAi was induced by feeding T. urticae with 60 μL of dsRNA (1 000 ng/μL) in 1% (w/v) Brilliant Blue FCF food dye solution (Henan Wanbang, Henan, China) placed between 2 layers of parafilm on 1.5 cm 2 of nylon mesh with a volatile size of 100 μm (Ghazy et al ., 2020; Xia et al ., 2022). After starving 50 adult female mites for 24 h, they were placed on the nylon mesh in the dark at 27°C for 24 h before being transferred to fresh soybean leaf discs at 27 ± 1°C, 60% RH, and a 14 h photoperiod.…”