Rhizobia in legume root nodules fix nitrogen in symbiosomes, organelle-like structures in which a membrane from the host plant surrounds the symbiotic bacteria. However, the components that transport plant-synthesized lipids to the symbiosome membrane remain unknown. This study identified and functionally characterized the Chinese milk vetch (Astragalus sinicus) lipid transfer protein AsE246, which is specifically expressed in nodules. It was found that AsE246 can bind lipids in vitro. More importantly, AsE246 can bind the plant-synthesized membrane lipid digalactosyldiacylglycerol in vivo. Immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy showed that AsE246 and digalactosyldiacylglycerol localize in the symbiosome membrane and are present in infection threads. Overexpression of AsE246 resulted in increased nodule numbers; knockdown of AsE246 resulted in reduced nodule numbers, decreased lipids contents in nodules, diminished nitrogen fixation activity, and abnormal development of symbiosomes. AsE246 knockdown also resulted in fewer infection threads, nodule primordia, and nodules, while AsE246 overexpression resulted in more infection threads and nodule primordia, suggesting that AsE246 affects nodule organogenesis associated with infection thread formation. Taken together, these results indicate that AsE246 contributes to lipids transport to the symbiosome membrane, and this transport is required for effective legume-rhizobium symbiosis.

BackgroundNilaparvata lugens (the brown planthopper, BPH) and Laodelphax striatellus (the small brown planthopper, SBPH) are two of the most important pests of rice. Up to now, there was only one mitochondrial genome of rice planthopper has been sequenced and very few dependable information of mitochondria could be used for research on population genetics, phylogeographics and phylogenetic evolution of these pests. To get more valuable information from the mitochondria, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial genomes of BPH and SBPH. These two planthoppers were infected with two different functional Wolbachia (intracellular endosymbiont) strains (wLug and wStri). Since both mitochondria and Wolbachia are transmitted by cytoplasmic inheritance and it was difficult to separate them when purified the Wolbachia particles, concomitantly sequencing the genome of Wolbachia using next generation sequencing method, we also got nearly complete mitochondrial genome sequences of these two rice planthoppers. After gap closing, we present high quality and reliable complete mitochondrial genomes of these two planthoppers.ResultsThe mitogenomes of N. lugens (BPH) and L. striatellus (SBPH) are 17, 619 bp and 16, 431 bp long with A + T contents of 76.95% and 77.17%, respectively. Both species have typical circular mitochondrial genomes that encode the complete set of 37 genes which are usually found in metazoans. However, the BPH mitogenome also possesses two additional copies of the trnC gene. In both mitochondrial genomes, the lengths of the atp8 gene were conspicuously shorter than that of all other known insect mitochondrial genomes (99 bp for BPH, 102 bp for SBPH). That two rearrangement regions (trnC-trnW and nad6-trnP-trnT) of mitochondrial genomes differing from other known insect were found in these two distantly related planthoppers revealed that the gene order of mitochondria might be conservative in Delphacidae. The large non-coding fragment (the A+T-rich region) putatively corresponding responsible for the control of replication and transcription of mitochondria contained a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTRs) block in different natural individuals of these two planthoppers. Comparison with a previously sequenced individual of SBPH revealed that the mitochondrial genetic variation within a species exists not only in the sequence and secondary structure of genes, but also in the gene order (the different location of trnH gene).ConclusionThe mitochondrial genome arrangement pattern found in planthoppers was involved in rearrangements of both tRNA genes and protein-coding genes (PCGs). Different species from different genera of Delphacidae possessing the same mitochondrial gene rearrangement suggests that gene rearrangements of mitochondrial genome probably occurred before the differentiation of this family. After comparatively analyzing the gene order of different species of Hemiptera, we propose that except for some specific taxonomical group (e.g. the whiteflies) the gene order might have diversified in family le...

Many spider mites belonging to the genus Tetranychus are of agronomical importance. With limited morphological characters, Tetranychus mites are usually identified by a combination of morphological characteristics and molecular diagnostics. To clarify their molecular evolution and phylogeny, the mitochondrial genomes of the green and red forms of Tetranychus urticae as well as T. kanzawai, T. ludeni, T. malaysiensis, T. phaselus, T. pueraricola were sequenced and compared. The seven mitochondrial genomes are typical circular molecules of about 13,000 bp encoding and they are composed of the complete set of 37 genes that are usually found in metazoans. The order of the mitochondrial (mt) genes is the same as that in the mt genomes of Panonychus citri and P. ulmi, but very different from that in other Acari. The J-strands of the mitochondrial genomes have high (∼84%) A+T contents, negative GC-skews and positive AT-skews. The nucleotide sequence of the cox1 gene, which is commonly used as a taxon barcode and molecular marker, is more highly conserved than the nucleotide sequences of other mitochondrial genes in these seven species. Most tRNA genes in the seven genomes lose the D-arm and/or the T-arm. The functions of these tRNAs need to be evaluated. The mitochondrial genome of T. malaysiensis differs from the other six genomes in having a slightly smaller genome size, a slight difference in codon usage, and a variable loop in place of the T-arm of some tRNAs by a variable loop. A phylogenic analysis shows that T. malaysiensis first split from other Tetranychus species and that the clade of the family Tetranychoidea occupies a basal position in the Trombidiformes. The mt genomes of the green and red forms of T. urticae have limited divergence and short evolutionary distance.

Wolbachia are maternally inherited intracellular bacteria that infect a wide range of arthropods and cause an array of effects on host reproduction, fitness and mating behavior. Although our understanding of the Wolbachia-associated effects on hosts is rapidly expanding, our knowledge of the host factors that mediate Wolbachia dynamics is rudimentary. Here, we explore the interactions between Wolbachia and its host, the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae Koch. Our results indicate that Wolbachia induces strong cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), increases host fecundity, but has no effects on the longevity of females and the mating competitiveness of males in T. urticae. Most importantly, host mating pattern was found to affect Wolbachia density dynamics during host aging. Mating of an uninfected mite of either sex with an infected mite attenuates the Wolbachia density in the infected mite. According to the results of Wolbachia localization, this finding may be associated with the tropism of Wolbachia for the reproductive tissue in adult spider mites. Our findings describe a new interaction between Wolbachia and their hosts.

Summary• Asnodf32, encoding a nodule-specific cysteine proteinase in Astragalus sinicus, is probably involved in nodule senescence. To obtain direct evidence of its role in nodule senescence, Agrobacterium rhizogenes-mediated RNA interference was applied to A. sinicus hairy roots.• Real-time qRT-PCR was used to estimate the efficiency of suppression. The senescent phenotype of transgenic nodules was examined with paraffin-embedded slides, TUNEL (TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling) assay, and transmission electron microscopy, and the bacteroid nitrogen fixation activity was also measured.• It was found that silencing of Asnodf32 delayed root nodule and bacteroid senescence. The period of bacteroid active nitrogen fixation was significantly extended. Interestingly, nodules enlarged in length were also observed on Asnodf32-silenced hairy roots.• The results reported here indicate that Asnodf32 plays an important role in the regulation of root nodule senescence.

Cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) has been proposed as a major mechanism by which certain strains of Wolbachia to invade and persist in host populations. However, mechanisms that underlie the invasion and persistence of non-CI strains are less well understood. Here, we established a spider mite Tetranychus phaselus population multiply infected by Cardinium as well as two distinct lineages of Wolbachia, designated wCon and wOri, to study the forces driving the spread of the non-CI strain of Wolbachia wOri. Interestingly, we found that wOri provided a longevity advantage to its female hosts under ideal conditions, making wOri stay longer in this population, and then being transmitted to more offspring. Furthermore, the lifespan of uninfected females was reduced when mated with multiple-infected males. As a result, the uninfected population is attenuated by the multiple-infected males. Thus, we infer that the host age effects of multiple infection may represent sufficient forces driving the spread of wOri through the host population.

Species-specific sex pheromone is biosynthesized and released in most female moths as a chemical cue in mating communication. However, information on genes involved in this pathway is limited. The beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua, is a cosmopolitan agricultural pest that causes severe economic losses to many crops. In China, the female sex pheromones in sex pheromone glands (PGs) of S. exigua have been measured which comprises (Z,E)-9,12-tetradecadienyl acetate, (Z)-9-tetradecen-l-ol, (Z)-9-tetradecenyl acetate, and (Z,E)-9,12-tetradecadien-1-ol in a ratio of 47:18:18:17. Fifty-nine putative genes related to sex pheromone biosynthesis were identified in the present study by sequencing and analyzing the sex pheromone gland (PG) transcriptome of S. exigua. Expression profiles revealed that two desaturase (SexiDes5 and SexiDes11) and three fatty acyl reductase (SexiFAR2, 3, and 9) genes had PG-specific expression, and phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that they clustered with genes known to be involved in pheromone synthesis in other moth species. Our results provide crucial background information that could facilitate the elucidation of sex pheromone biosynthesis pathway of S. exigua as well as other Spodoptera species and help identify potential targets for disrupting sexual communication in S. exigua for developing novel environment-friendly pesticides.

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