Transcriptomic analysis of the bagworm moth silk gland reveals a number of silk genes conserved within Lepidoptera
Transcriptomic analysis of the bagworm moth silk gland reveals a number of silk genes conserved within Lepidoptera
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DOI：
10.1111/1744-7917.12846
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发表时间：
2020-07-25
期刊：
影响因子：
4
通讯作者：
Sezutsu, Hideki
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Tsubota, Takuya;Yoshioka, Taiyo;Sezutsu, Hideki
鳞翅目昆虫产生具有独特特性的茧。茧是由幼虫组织丝腺产生的丝制成的，我们对丝基因的了解仍然非常有限。在这里，我们研究了结叶蛾 Eumeta variegata 的丝基因，该物种最近被发现能产生异常坚固和坚韧的丝。使用短读长转录组分析，我们鉴定了丝素蛋白重链基因的部分序列，并且发现其产物具有在非土星物种中保守的C末端结构。这与丝心蛋白轻链/纤维六聚体基因的存在一致，并且表明结叶虫正在产生由丝心蛋白三元复合物组成的丝。这表明丝心蛋白结构在进化上的保存时间比之前认为的要长。除了丝心蛋白之外，我们还鉴定了丝胶基因的候选者，丝胶基因在丝腺的中部区域强烈表达并编码富含丝氨酸的蛋白质，以及其他丝基因，其在结构上与其他鳞翅目同源物保守。因此，认为结叶蛾能产生传统的鳞翅目类型的丝。我们进一步发现许多基因在丝腺的特定区域表达，并且一些基因与家蚕对应基因表现出保守的表达。这是第一项对鳞翅目丝虫科进行全面丝基因鉴定和表达分析的研究，应有助于了解丝基因进化以及新型丝的开发。
Lepidopteran insects produce cocoons with unique properties. The cocoons are made of silk produced in the larval tissue silk gland and our understanding of the silk genes is still very limited. Here, we investigated silk genes in the bagworm mothEumeta variegata, a species that has recently been found to produce extraordinarily strong and tough silk. Using short-read transcriptomic analysis, we identified a partial sequence of thefibroin heavy chaingene and its product was found to have a C-terminal structure that is conserved within nonsaturniid species. This is in accordance with the presence offibroin light chain/fibrohexameringenes and it is suggested that the bagworm moth is producing silk composed of fibroin ternary complex. This indicates that the fibroin structure has been evolutionarily conserved longer than previously thought. Other thanfibroins we identified candidates forsericingenes, expressed strongly in the middle region of the silk gland and encoding serine-rich proteins, and other silk genes, that are structurally conserved with other lepidopteran homologues. The bagworm moth is thus considered to be producing conventional lepidopteran type of silk. We further found a number of genes expressed in a specific region of the silk gland and some genes showed conserved expression withBombyx moricounterparts. This is the first study allowing comprehensive silk gene identification and expression analysis in the lepidopteran Psychidae family and should contribute to the understanding of silk gene evolution as well as to the development of novel types of silk.