Involvement of laccase2 and yellow-e genes in antifungal host defense of the model beetle, Tribolium castaneum

Journal of Invertebrate Pathology
Yuuki HayakawaKen Miura

Abstract

We previously reported that the moderate knockdown of chitin synthase 1 gene of the model beetle Tribolium castaneum impairs the host defense against entomopathogenic fungi, Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae, which infect host insects via the direct penetration of cuticular integuments (Hayakawa et al., 2017). In this study, we focused on the antifungal roles of laccase2 (Lac2) as well as yellow-e (Y-e) genes, both of which are shown to be important to the establishment of stable cuticular structures in this beetle species. The expression profiles of the two genes somewhat resembled each other, peaking in late prepupae and mid to late pupae, while the transcript levels of Lac2 were higher than Y-e throughout. The knockdown of Lac2 gene at the prepupal and pupal peaks with relatively small amounts of dsRNA resulted in pupae with a lighter color and adults with a lighter color and dimpled/wrinkled elytra, respectively. Meanwhile, similar gene knockdown of Y-e but with 10 times more dsRNA compared to Lac2 resulted in pupae having a normal appearance and adults with a darker color. We conducted fungal infection assays with B. bassiana and M. anisopliae using these knockdown animals. The knockdown of Y-e gene had no or l...Continue Reading

Citations

Dec 18, 2020·Frontiers in Physiology·Alexandre Augusto Pereira FirminoMaria Fátima Grossi-de-Sa
Apr 16, 2021·Developmental and Comparative Immunology·Lage Cerenius, Kenneth Söderhäll

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