马铃薯甲虫幼虫蜕皮后表皮硬化的激素信号调控网络的研究

马铃薯是中国第四大粮食作物和重要蔬菜；其稳定的产量和优良的品质对于防止新冠肺炎疫情冲击下的粮食和蔬菜短缺、巩固脱贫成果至关重要。然而，马铃薯甲虫的猖獗为害和持续扩散严重威胁马铃薯产业。我们已鉴定出20-羟基蜕皮酮(20E)、保幼激素(JH)信号途径和鞣化剂合成的主要基因；发现鞣化剂合成基因的表达由蜕皮前20E和蜕皮后JH高峰激活。本项目拟揭示马铃薯甲虫幼虫蜕皮过程中20E和JH调控表皮硬化的作用，鉴定激活幼虫鞣化剂合成和分泌的转录因子，构建幼虫蜕皮后表皮硬化的分子调控网络系统，明晰20E和JH信号转导途径在激活表皮硬化过程中的协同机理。研究结果可望填补幼虫表皮硬化调控信号网络的理论空白；开拓广阔的后续研究领域；有助于揭示幼虫发育的敏感时期和关键作用因子，制订出针对性的综合配套治理措施；还可为高效、低毒、环境友好新农药的开发和高通量快速筛选提供新的靶标分子。具有重要理论意义和潜在应用价值

Potato is the fourth widely-distributed food crop around the world. It is also an important vegetable, feedstuff and industrial material crop. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) unavoidanbly results in the shortage of food and vegetables throughout the world. The maintanance of potato product is very important.. The Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) is a notorious defoliator of potato throughout most of the northern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in current, and it often causes extremely large potato yield loss. The beetle is an able disperser and may invade other potato-growing areas of China. It is a serious threat to potato production.. Larval cuticle of insects is composed mainly of chitin and structural cuticle proteins that must be tanned after ecdysis, a process involved in the oxidation reactions of ortho-diphenols (dopa, dopamine, N-acetyl-dopamine and N-β-alanyl-dopamine). These four types of pigments are produced by a branched biochemical pathway that processes tyrosine. Tyrosine is first converted into dopa (L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) by a tyrosine hydroxylase. Dopa is then converted into dopamine by dopa decarboxylase. Dopamine can be converted into dopamine quinone (black/brown), or into NADA or NBAD through a reaction catalyzed by the aanat and ebony gene products, respectively.. The purpose of the present scientific plan is to clarify hormonal signaling networks regulating melanization of larval cuticle after ecdysis. We focus our researches on how 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) and juvenile hormone (JH) signaling cascades stimulate the activation of the biosynthesis of ortho-diphenols. Do the 20E and JH casecade pathways directly activate the synthesis enzymes, or through other transcript factors? Are there any interactions of 20E and JH casecade pathways during the stimulation? What is the specific casecade in each regulationary process? . Our results will help us to further understand the signaling pathways and their roles in regulation of metamorphosis in insect species. Moreover, the results may have potential application in the control of L. decemlineata.