Cloning and Functional Characterization of c-Jun NH2-Terminal Kinase from the Mediterranean Species of the Whitefly Bemisia tabaci Complex

Abstract

c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling is a highly conserved pathway that controls gene transcription in response to a wide variety of biological and environmental stresses. In this study, a JNK from the invasive Mediterranean (MED) species of the whitefly Bemisia tabaci complex was cloned and characterized. The full-length JNK cDNA of MED consists of 1565 bp, with an 1176 bp open reading frame encoding 392 amino acids. Comparison of JNK amino acid sequences among different species showed that the sequences of JNKs are highly conserved. To reveal its biological function, the gene expression and functional activation of JNK were analyzed during various stress conditions. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed that the relative expression level of JNK remained hardly unchanged when the insects were transferred from cotton (a suitable host plant) to tobacco (an unsuitable host plant), infected with bacteria and treated with high and low temperatures. However, the mRNA level of JNK significantly increased when treated with fungal pathogens. Furthermore, we found that the amount of phosphorylated JNK increased significantly after fungal infection, while there is no obvious change for phosphorylated p38 and ERK. Our results indicate that the whitefly JNK plays an important role in whitefly’s immune responses to fungal infection.

Downregulated LRRK2 gene expression inhibits proliferation and migration while promoting the apoptosis of thyroid cancer cells by inhibiting activation of the JNK signaling pathway

“…Furthermore, a previous study reported that LRRK2 is overexpressed in TC, and its expression is a relatively specific marker for TC (19). Additionally, as a highly conserved pathway, the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway functions crucially in regulating gene expression and intracellular metabolism in life activities, including growth and development, apoptosis and cellular response to external stress (20). Recently, the activation of the JNK signaling pathway was reported to mediate thyroid dysfunction re sulting from thyroid inflammatory responses and polychlorinated biphenyls (21).…”

Molecular Characterization and Expression of OfJNK and Ofp38 in Ostrinia furnacalis (Guenée) Under Different Environmental Stressors

“…Furthermore, their studies on Bombyx mori revealed an underlying function of MAPKs of initiating and terminating embryonic diapause (Fujiwara et al, 2006). Moreover, it has recently been demonstrated that the JNK and p38 MAPK signaling pathways play significant roles during the responses of Bemisia tabaci to low temperature stresses (Li et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2013). Nevertheless, until now, information about the function of MAPKs in Lepidoptera under various environmental stresses is lacking.…”