Identification and Transcriptional Profiling of Differentially Expressed Genes Associated With Response to Uva Radiation inDrosophila melanogaster(Diptera: Drosophilidae)

Abstract

Ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation, the major component of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation reaching the earth's surface, leads to negative effects in insects, such as oxidative stress, photoreceptor damage, and cell death. To better understand the molecular mechanisms of insect response to UVA radiation, suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction approaches were combined to reveal differential transcript expression in Drosophila melanogaster Meigen, 1830 (Diptera: Drosophilidae). In this study, two subtractive cDNA libraries were constructed and sequenced, obtaining 131 high-quality unique expressed sequence tags (ESTs) that were up- or downregulated in D. melanogaster exposed to UVA radiation for 0.5 h. Of the 131 ESTs, 102 unique ESTs were differentially expressed and classified into 10 functional categories. The results showed that UVA radiation induces expression of genes related to stress and defense response and metabolism. Potential transcription factor binding motifs upstream of these genes are associated with multiple signaling pathways that may help the insect cope with the stress of UVA radiation. To our knowledge, this is the first analysis of insect response to UVA radiation at the transcriptional level. Our results reveal that UVA radiation influences the expression profiles of stress-responsive genes and provide further insights into the mechanisms of adaptive response to UVA radiation stress.

Transcriptome Analysis Reveals the Potential Antioxidant Defense Mechanisms of Myzus persicae in Response to UV-B Stress

“…However, the TCA cycle and glycolysis are two important pathways for ATP production in insects; they are crucial for ensuring the energy supply of M. persicae in response to UV-B stress. Our results were consistent with those previously reported for Macrosiphum euphorbiae under UV-B stress and Drosophila melanogaster under UV-A stress [24,25]. UV-B stress leads to the accumulation of pyruvate, which can effectively remove ROS, reduce protein carbonylation, and stabilize mitochondrial membrane potential; these findings are similar to those reported in fungi under UV stress [26,27].…”

“…These results demonstrated that the sequencing quality was relatively high, indicating that the unigenes were suitable for subsequent annotation analysis. We then annotated our unigenes using six functional databases and found that 37,226 (91.47%), 25,478 (62.60%), 29,164 (71.66%), 5,366 (13.18%), 16,885 (41.49%), and 18,898 (46.43%) unigenes could be mapped to the NR, Swiss-prot, Pfam, COG, Gene Ontology (GO), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases, respectively.…”

Lethal effects of short-wavelength visible light on insects

“…Increases in oxidative stress caused by UVA irradiation have also been shown in insects such as the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera 26 . In addition, molecular-level responses to stress and damage by UVA irradiation have been confirmed in insects 27 28 . However, lethal effects of UVA irradiation on insects have not been shown 15 27 .…”

Lethal effect of blue light on strawberry leaf beetle, Galerucella grisescens (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

“…In contrast, blue light and UVA (315–400 nm) do not directly damage DNA because the maximum absorption spectrum of DNA ranges from 260 to 265 nm and blue light is not absorbed by native DNA 25–27 . However, it is known that UVA indirectly damages lipids, proteins, and DNA by enhancing the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) 28–30 , and increases in oxidative stress, molecular-level responses to the stress, and damage caused by UVA irradiation have been shown in some species of insects 31–33 . Blue-light irradiation also injures organisms by stimulating the production of ROS.…”