Transcriptome analysis of life stages of the house cricket, Acheta domesticus, to improve insect crop production

Abstract

to develop genetic resources for the improvement of insects as food, we sequenced transcripts from embryos, one-day hatchlings, three nymphal stages, and male and female adults of the house cricket, Acheta domesticus. A draft transcriptome was assembled from more than 138 million sequences combined from all life stages and sexes. The draft transcriptome assembly contained 45,866 contigs, and more than half were similar to sequences at ncBi (e value < e −3). the highest sequence identity was found in sequences from the termites Cryptotermes secundus and Zootermopsis nevadensis. Sequences with identity to Gregarina niphandrodes suggest that these crickets carry the parasite. Among all life stages, there were 5,042 genes with differential expression between life stages (significant at p < 0.05). An enrichment analysis of gene ontology terms from each life stage or sex highlighted genes that were important to biological processes in cricket development. We further characterized genes that may be important in future studies of genetically modified crickets for improved food production, including those involved in RnA interference, and those encoding prolixicin and hexamerins. the data represent an important first step in our efforts to provide genetically improved crickets for human consumption and livestock feed.

Transcriptomic Profiling of Various Developmental Stages of Aphis Aurantii to Provide a Genetic Resource for Gene Expression and SSR Analysis

“…A clear understanding of the molecular mechanisms that regulate pest life cycles and development at each stage may aid in their control by facilitating the development of more sustainable and environmentally friendly approaches. Transcriptome analyses of several insect species across developmental stages have been reported in many insect species, such as Acheta domesticus (Oppert et al, 2020 ), Dendrolimus houi (Han et al, 2019 ), Cylas formicarius (Ma et al, 2016 ), and Dr. melanogaster (Graveley et al, 2011 ). In this study, we described a draft transcriptome from various developmental stages of the tea aphid, which substantially increases the molecular resources available for elucidating gene expression during insect development and functional study of development and reproduction.…”

Chemical Composition, Nutrient Quality and Acceptability of Edible Insects Are Affected by Species, Developmental Stage, Gender, Diet, and Processing Method

“…Mass collections of aquatic insects by using nets woven by fishermen may be a remunerative venture, but encouraging locals and creating marketing channels as well as obtaining permits to fish for aquatic insects could be major hurdles. Recently, Oppert et al [ 200 ] suggested sequencinggene transcripts from embryos, one-day hatchlings, nymphs and male and female adults of A. domesticus to use genetically modified crickets for improved insect production.…”

A multifactorial proteomics approach to sex‐specific effects of diet composition and social environment in an omnivorous insect

“…Secondly, the limited amount of information about our model species, the cricket A. domesticus, may at least partially preclude a more complete identification of proteins and their physiological roles (Bräutigam et al, 2008;Heck & Neely, 2020;Oppert et al, 2020).…”

“…In the present study, we use the house cricket Acheta domesticus (L., 1758) as a model organism. This cosmopolitan insect species is widely used for behavioral and physiological studies (e.g., Crocker & Hunter, 2018;Gray, 1997;Nosil, 2002), and mass-produced as food and feed (Oppert et al, 2020;Udomsil et al, 2019). In the cricket A. domesticus, protein makes up the bulk of its body composition in terms of macromolecules.…”

“…In fact, proteomics has rarely been used to study the effects of breeding conditions on experimental animals (e.g., differences in diet constitution and social environment, Sundekilde et al, 2020). Even though recent studies have used transcriptomics in a comparative fashion (e.g., Drinnenberg et al, 2014;Oppert et al, 2020), no study to date had estimated the complete protein-coding genes or proteome of the house cricket A. domesticus. However, genomic studies in related cricket species have identified 17,871 coding genes for Gryllus bimaculatus (Gryllidae) and 12,767 for Laupala kohalensis (Trigonidiidae) (Ylla et al, 2020).…”