Chromosomal Location of a Recessive Red-Eye Mutant Gene in the Brown Planthopper <i>Nilaparvata lugens</i> (Stål) (Insecta: Hemiptera)

Abstract

The color of compound eyes is an important biological characteristic of insects. A red eye color mutation is commonly found in the brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae), a serious insect pest of rice in tropical and temperate Asia. The genetic inheritance and physiological effect of the eye color mutation in the BPH have been studied, but the location of a red gene controlling the red eye mutant phenotype on a chromosome has not been elucidated. In this study, simple sequence repeats (SSRs), together with bulked segregant analysis (BSA), was performed to identify and map the location of the red gene. A total of 387 SSR markers distributed throughout the BPH autosome were used to survey two bulked DNA samples. Samples were generated from 29 brown-eyed and 29 red-eyed individuals derived from an F 2 generation of a cross between brown-eyed wild type and red-eyed mutant colonies. The SSR marker BM20 was shown to be associated with the red eye mutant phenotype. Ninety-five offspring of the F 2 generation were then used to map the gene. The present study constitutes the discovery of the location of the red gene, which may lead to the acquisition of the genetic determinant of the compound eye color mutation in BPH.

Trait mapping in diverse arthropods by bulked segregant analysis

“…Despite some notable exceptions, small-to modestly-sized F2 or backcross populations of several hundreds of individuals have often been used. Mirroring initial studies in plants, BSA studies in insects have often used sparse genetic data; examples of marker types used to date include simple sequence repeat (microsatellite) markers [46][47][48], amplified fragment length polymorphism markers [49][50][51], restriction fragment length polymorphism markers [52], restriction-site associated DNA markers [53], single feature polymorphisms ascertained from microarrays [54][55][56][57], random amplified DNA fingerprinting [58], a combination of random amplified polymorphic DNA and microsatellite markers [59], and in a few cases dense marker data obtained from resequencing (e.g., J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f 5 [23,25]). The number of genetic markers used in these studies varied greatly, with sparsely (and unevenly) distributed markers likely contributing to low QTL mapping resolution in some cases.…”

RNA interference‐mediated knockdown of eye coloration genes in the western tarnished plant bug (Lygus hesperus Knight)

“…Although eye color mutations have been most extensively characterized in dipteran and lepidopteran species, there are descriptions of red‐eyed mutants in a number of hemipterans including Oncopeltus fasciatus (Dall; Lawrence, ), Geocoris punctipes (Say; Hagler, ), Laodelphax striatellus (Fallén; Ishii, ; L. H. Wang, Zhuang, Li, & Fang, ), Triatoma infestans (Insausti, Le gall, & Lazzari, ; Moraes et al, ; Pires et al, ), Rhodnius prolixus (Insausti et al, ), two species of Orius (Shimizu & Kawasaki, ), three independent lineages of Lygus lineolaris (Allen, ; Slaymaker & Tugwell, ; Snodgrass, ), and multiple Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) lines (Jairin, Leelagud, Pongmee, & Srivilai, ; Liu et al, ; Mochida, ; Seo, Jung, & Kim, ). Despite the prevalence of the red‐eye phenotype, molecular characterization of the underlying pigmentation pathways has been largely limited to N. lugens .…”

“…Despite the prevalence of the red‐eye phenotype, molecular characterization of the underlying pigmentation pathways has been largely limited to N. lugens . Genetic linkage mapping in this species has placed a red‐eye locus between two defined simple sequence repeats on chromosome 9 (Jairin et al, ), and RNA interference (RNAi)‐mediated knockdown of transcripts homologous to Drosophila scarlet , brown , white , karmoisin , cinnabar , and cardinal confirmed roles in eye pigmentation (Jiang & Lin, ; Liu, Luo, Yang, Wang, & Tang, ; Liu, Wang, Yang, Luo, & Tang, ; Xue et al, ). In L. lineolaris , the red‐eye phenotype in the most recently characterized line was found to be sex‐linked (Allen, ), rather than under control of an autosomal recessive allele, as reported for the two previous lines (Slaymaker & Tugwell, ; Snodgrass, ).…”