An Acyl Carrier Protein Gene Affects Fatty Acid Synthesis and Growth of Hermetia illucens

Abstract

Acyl carrier protein (ACP) is an acyl carrier in fatty acid synthesis and is an important cofactor of fatty acid synthetase. Little is known about ACP in insects and how this protein may modulate the composition and storage of fatty acids. We used an RNAi-assisted strategy to study the potential function of ACP in Hermetia illucens (Diptera: Stratiomyidae). We identified a HiACP gene with a cDNA length of 501 bp and a classical conserved region of DSLD. This gene was highly expressed in the egg and late larval instars and was most abundant in the midgut and fat bodies of larvae. Injection of dsACP significantly inhibited the expression level of HiACP and further regulated the fatty acid synthesis in treated H. illucens larvae. The composition of saturated fatty acids was reduced, and the percentage of unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) was increased. After interfering with HiACP, the cumulative mortality of H. illucens increased to 68.00% (p < 0.05). H. illucens growth was greatly influenced. The development duration increased to 5.5 days, the average final body weights of larvae and pupae were decreased by 44.85 mg and 14.59 mg, respectively, and the average body lengths of larvae and pupae were significantly shortened by 3.09 mm and 3.82 mm, respectively. The adult eclosion rate and the oviposition of adult females were also severely influenced. These results demonstrated that HiACP regulates fatty acid content and influences multiple biological processes of H. illucens.

Functional characterization of fatty acid synthase inHermetia illucens

“…Meanwhile, as core gene of DNL, the putative HiFAS and HiACC genes were partially characterized in incomplete sequences without any in vivo or ex vivo functional identification (Giannetto et al, 2020). Until now, only one gene, HiACP , which participated in fatty acid biosynthesis was functionally characterized (Peng et al, 2023). The DNL core genes, especially for HiFAS , were needed to be directly investigated at molecular level to test the DNL origin hypothesis of LA.…”

“…The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted March 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.03.22.586266 doi: bioRxiv preprint participated in fatty acid biosynthesis was functionally characterized (Peng et al, 2023).…”