Isolation and expression of five genes in the mevalonate pathway of the Chinese white pine beetle, Dendroctonus armandi (Curculionidae: Scolytinae)

Abstract

The Chinese white pine beetle Dendroctonus armandi (Tsai and Li) is a significant pest of the Qinling and Bashan Mountains pine forests of China. The Chinese white pine beetle can overcome the defences of Chinese white pine Pinus armandi (Franch) through pheromone‐assisted aggregation that results in a mass attack of host trees. We isolated five full‐length complementary DNAs encoding mevalonate pathway‐related enzyme genes from the Chinese white pine beetle (D. armandi), which are acetoacetyl‐CoA thiolase (AACT), geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase (GGPPS), mevalonate kinase (MK), mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase (MPDC), and phosphomevalonate kinase (PMK). Bioinformatic analyses were performed on the full‐length deduced amino acid sequences. Differential expression of these five genes was observed between sexes, and within these significant differences among topically applied juvenile hormone III (JH III), fed on phloem of P. armandi, tissue distribution, and development stage. Mevalonate pathway genes expression were induced by JH III and feeding.

The Effect of Methylation Modification of MDD on the Expression of Key Genes in the Process of Saponin Synthesis in Eleutherococcus senticosus

“…Previous studies in plants showed that the expression levels of the key genes on terpenoid synthesis pathway, such as Hevea brasiliensis [45] and Picrorhiza kurroa [46], changed in the same trend. In recent studies, it was found that the expression levels of key enzymes in the terpenoid synthesis pathway of plants and animals such as Dendroctonus and armandi also changed in the same trend [47]. The analysis of protein-protein interaction with MDD in A. thaliana showed that there was interaction and coexpression relationship between the key enzymes in the terpenoid synthesis pathway, which may explain the above expression trend.…”

Functional Characterization of Allatostatin C (PISCF/AST) and Juvenile Hormone Acid O-Methyltransferase in Dendroctonus armandi

“…Isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase ( IPPI ) catalyzes the conversion of isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP) to dimethylallyl pyrophosphate (DMAPP); subsequently, IPP and DMAPP were condensed head-to-tail manner to produce geranyl diphosphate (GPP); this head-to-tail condensation can be repeated by the further reaction of GPP with IPP, yielding the JH precursor farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) [ 11 ]. The expressions of eight enzymes of the mevalonate pathway have been previously examined in Dendroctonus armandi [ 12 , 13 ]. During the late steps proceeding from farnesyl diphosphate to JH, FPP is transformed sequentially to farnesol, farnesal, farnesoic acid, methyl farneosate and JH [ 10 , 14 , 15 , 16 ].…”

Function of mevalonate pathway genes in the synthesis of frontalin in Chinese white pine beetle,Dendroctonus armandi(curculionidae: Scolytinae)

“…Sulcatone is a possible intermediate, which may be derived from the dioxygenase activity on GGPP (Blomquist et al, 2010; Keeling et al, 2013; Tittiger & Blomquist, 2017). In D. armandi, AACT , HMGS , HMGR , MK , PMK , MPDC , G/FPPS , and geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase ( GGPPS ) have been cloned in full length, and the gene accession numbers are shown in Table (Sun et al, 2020; Wang et al, 2020; Yu et al, 2015). Yu et al (2015) and Wang et al (2020) showed that both injected JHIII and feed could increase the expression levels of HMGS , HMGR , G/FPPS , and IDI messenger RNA in both males and females, and cause high transcript levels mostly in the midgut tissue of D. armandi .…”