Genome-Wide Identification of Destruxin A-Responsive Immunity-Related MicroRNAs in Diamondback Moth, Plutella xylostella

Abstract

Plutella xylostella, a global key pest, is one of the major lepidopteran pests of cruciferous vegetables owing to its strong ability of resistance development to a wide range of insecticides. Destruxin A, a mycotoxin of the entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium anisopliae, has broad-spectrum insecticidal effects and has been used as an alternative control strategy to reduce harmful effects of insecticides. However, microRNA (miRNA)-regulated reactions against destruxin A have not been elucidated yet. Therefore, here, to identify immunity-related miRNAs, we constructed four small RNA libraries from destruxin A-injected larvae of P. xylostella at three different time courses (2, 4, and 6 h) with a control, and sequenced by Illumina. Our results showed that totally 187 known and 44 novel miRNAs were identified in four libraries by bioinformatic analysis. Interestingly, among differentially expressed known miRNAs, some conserved miRNAs, such as miR-263, miR-279, miR-306, miR-2a, and miR-308, predicted to be involved in regulating immunity-related genes, were also identified. Worthy to mention, miR-306 and miR-279 were also listed as common abundantly expressed miRNA in all treatments. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis also indicated that differentially expressed miRNAs were involved in several immunity-related signaling pathways, including toll signaling pathway, IMD signaling pathway, JAK–STAT signaling pathway, and cell adhesion molecules signaling pathway. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive report of destruxin A-responsive immunity-related miRNAs in P. xylostella. Our findings will improve in understanding the role of destruxin A-responsive miRNAs in the host immune system and would be useful to develop biological control strategies for controlling P. xylostella.

Immunotranscriptome analysis of Plutella xylostella reveals differences in innate immune responses to low‐ and high‐virulence Beauveria bassiana strain challenges

“…To further investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in the innate immune strategies employed by P. xylostella to combat high‐ and low‐virulence B. bassiana strains, the DEGs were annotated based on published studies 35,41,42 . A total of 28 differentially expressed immune‐related genes were identified (Table 1).…”

Host Plant-Derived miRNAs Potentially Modulate the Development of a Cosmopolitan Insect Pest, Plutella xylostella

“…Currently, miRNAs studies related to Plutella xylostella , a worldwide destructive pest of cruciferous vegetables [26,27,28], are mainly targeting insecticide resistance [29,30,31] and immune response [32,33]. As an oligophagous insect herbivore, P. xylostella may have long been evolving with miRNAs derived from host plants.…”

Genome-Wide Identification and Analysis of Nilaparvata lugens microRNAs during Challenge with the Entomopathogenic Fungus Metarhizium anisopliae

“…On the other hand, the uncontrolled expression of miRNAs may result in undesirable results, such as disease, unusual phenotype variation, or death [ 35 ]. With the ongoing development of sequencing technologies, miRNAs have been evaluated in many insect species under different conditions, including responses to stressful treatments or pathogenic challenges, which have provided important information for investigating the roles of miRNAs in regulating their target mRNAs [ 36 , 37 , 38 ]. These data also facilitate the development of new approaches for pest control in terms of providing potential target genes for both RNAi technology and the development of engineered fungus.…”