Developmental Transcriptome Analysis of Red-Spotted Apollo Butterfly, Parnassius bremeri

Abstract

Parnassius bremeri (P. bremeri), a member of the genus Snow Apollo in the swallowtail family (Papilionidae), is a high alpine butterfly that lives in Russia, Korea, and China. It is an endangered wildlife (Class I) in South Korea and is a globally endangered species. The lack of transcriptomic and genomic resources of P. bremeri significantly hinders the study of its population genetics and conservation. The detailed information of the developmental stage-specific gene expression patterns of P. bremeri is of great demand for its conservation. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the metamorphic development of P. bremeri is still unknown. In the present study, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) across the metamorphic developmental stages were compared using high-throughput transcriptome sequencing. We identified a total of 72,161 DEGs from eight comparisons. GO enrichment analysis showed that a range of DEGs were responsible for cuticle development and the melanin biosynthetic pathway during larval development. Pathway analysis suggested that the signaling pathways, such as the Wnt signaling pathway, hedgehog signaling pathway and Notch signaling pathway, are regulated during the developmental stages of P. bremeri. Furthermore, sensory receptors were also activated, especially during the larval to adult transition stage. Collectively, the results of this study provide a preliminary foundation and understanding of the molecular mechanism in their transcriptomes for further research on the metamorphic development of P. bremeri.

Transcriptome analysis of the endangered dung beetle Copris tripartitus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) and characterization of genes associated to immunity, growth, and reproduction

“…Moreover, genome-wide analysis of developmental stage-specific transcriptome data is crucial to the development of novel control approaches for insect pests, although this goal is far removed from the objectives of this study. Developmental transcriptome analysis has been conducted for an endangered Korean butterfly, Parnassius bremeri, to clarify its population genetics and inform conservation measures [ 89 ]. The cataloging of transcripts (such as actin, myosin, and tropomyosin) with key functions in growth and muscle development has been achieved in studies of the ecological dynamics of non-model species, and has provided molecular resources for future breeding programs [ 90 ].…”

Transcriptome‐derived molecular resources for the conservation of threatened butterflies in Korea

“…Genome assemblies of a few species can be recovered from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) server. Nonetheless, it is the transcriptome assemblies that have enriched the molecular resources of Spindasis takanosis (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), Fabriciana nerippe (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), Protantigius superans (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), and Parnassius bremeri (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae) (Hwang et al 2016;Lee et al 2022;Patnaik et al 2015). While P. bremeri developmental transcriptome was sequenced using the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform, the whole-transcriptome sequencing of S. takanosis, F. nerippe, and P. superans utilized the services of Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform (Fig.…”

“…The Illumina sequencing platform has screened microsatellite markers in the species and has been effective in addressing population diversity (Kim et al 2017). With the developmental stage transcriptome profiling, P. bremeri molecular resources critical for juvenile hormone signaling, ecdysone, Wnt, hedgehog, and notch signaling have been enriched (Lee et al 2022). Hence, the metamorphic development of P. bremeri unveiled could add to the existing conservation efforts.…”

“…However, due to the objective of understanding the metamorphic development of P. bremeri, samples from different developmental stages were used for total RNA extraction. Among the adult specimens of P. bremeri, tissues such as feelers, heads, wings, and reproductive organs from both sexes were used (Lee et al 2022). The RNA extracted passed through the pre-Illumina process and was sequenced using the Illumina platform.…”

“…Marker discovery, especially the screening of simple sequence repeats (SSRs), was prioritized. In the P. bremeri comparative transcriptome study, the differential expression of genes (DEGs) at different developmental stages was prioritized (Lee et al 2022). Cutadapt and Trimmomatic software were used to gain clean reads from raw reads by removing the adapter-only sequences.…”