BACKGROUND The brown planthopper (BPH) is one of the most destructive pests of rice, causing tremendous yield and economic losses every year. The fungal entomopathogen Metarhizium anisopliae was previously proved to have great potential for BPH biocontrol. Genome‐wide insight into the insect‐fungus interaction is crucial for genetic improvement of M. anisopliae to enhance its virulence to BPH but still has been poorly explored. RESULTS Using dual RNA‐seq approach, we present here a global view of host and fungal gene expressions in BPH adults during the fungal infection. The results revealed that BPH could initiate strong defense responses against the fungal attack by upregulating the expressions of a large number of genes, including genes involved in cuticle formation, immune response, cell detoxification and biomacromolecule metabolism. Correspondingly, the fungal entomopathogen could induce a series of genes to infect and modulate BPH, including genes involved in fungal penetration, invasive growth, stress resistance and virulence. Three host defense‐related genes (NlPCE4, NlPOD1 and NlCYP4DE1) were chosen for further function analysis. RNAi‐mediated knockdown of NlPCE4 caused a significant decrease in BPH survival, but no obvious effects on the survival rates were detected by the suppression of NlPOD1 and NlCYP4DE1. Combination of dsRNA injection and fungal infection could significantly enhance the BPH‐killing speed, as synergistic mortalities were observed in co‐treatments of RNAi and M. anisopliae infection. CONCLUSION Our study provides a comprehensive insight into molecular mechanisms of host‐pathogen interaction between BPH and M. anisopliae and contributes to future development of new efficient biocontrol strategies for BPH biocontrol.
Microbiome associated with insects play vital roles in host ecology and physiology. The small brown planthopper (SBPH), Laodelphax striatellus, is a polyphagous insect pest that caused enormous damage to a wide range of cereal crops. Previous studies have assessed the effects of environmental factors, such as antibiotics, insecticide, and geographical habitat on the bacterial composition of SBPH. However, the influence of host plants on the microbial community in SBPH still unclear. Here, we characterized and compared the microbial community in three SBPH populations feeding on rice, barley, and wheat, respectively, using high-throughput amplicon sequencing. Our observations revealed that the microbiome harbored by SBPH was abundant and diverse. Ten phyla comprising 141 genera of bacteria were annotated, and four fungal phyla consisting of 47 genera were assigned. The bacteria belonging to the phylum Proteobacteria were the most prevalent and the fungi with the highest abundance were from the order Hypocreales. Comparative analysis showed that host plants could significantly induce structural changes of SBPH microbiome. Significant differences in abundance were observed in two main bacterial orders (Rickettsiales and Rhodospirillales) and three fungal classes (Sordariomycetes, an unclassified class in Ascomycota and Eurotiomycetes) among three host-adapted SBPH populations. Our results could broaden our understanding of interactions among SBPH, its microbial associates and host plants, and also represented the basis of future SBPH biological management.
The complete mitochondrial genome of a nursery-web spider Dolomedes angustivirgatus is 14,783 bp in length and contains a standard set of 37 genes including 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNAs, 2 ribosomal RNAs and a putative control region. The A þ T content of the major strand is 77.0%. All the protein-coding genes are initiated by typical ATN codons, except for COII and COIII, which use a special start codon TTG. The truncated stop codon (T) occurs in ND4L, whereas the rest 12 genes end with the canonical stop codon (TAA and TAG). 15 tRNAs cannot be folded into typical cloverleaf-shaped secondary structure. The control region is 1084 bp in length and contains a long tandem repeat region. The result of phylogenetic analysis show that D. angustivirgatus is nested within Lycosoidea and recovered as sister to the cluster of three wolf spiders (Lycosidae).
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