Characteristic and Functional Study of Intersex, a Gene Related to Female Fertility in Bemisia tabaci

Yating Liu; Jinjian Yang; Zhijia Huo; Shaoli Wang; Qingjun Wu; Xuguo Zhou; Wen Xie; Youjun Zhang

doi:10.3389/fphys.2020.00055

Characteristic and Functional Study of Intersex, a Gene Related to Female Fertility in Bemisia tabaci

Yating Liu
, Jinjian Yang
, Zhijia Huo
, Shaoli Wang
, Qingjun Wu
, Xuguo Zhou
, Wen Xie
, Youjun Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

The intersex (ix) gene acts in concert with doublesex (dsx) at the end of the sex determination hierarchy to control somatic sexual differentiation in Drosophila melanogaster. Here, we report the Drosophila ix homolog in Bemisia tabaci (Btix) with differential splicing events. Four isoforms were found in B. tabaci adults, including two sex-specific transcripts (Btix^F and Btix^M). Knockdown of Btix had no measurable effects on female morphological phenotypes but reduced the expression of the vitellogenin gene and resulted in the production of significantly fewer eggs, a lower eclosion rate, and a shorter body size of female progeny in comparison with control females. These results increase our understanding of the genes underlying sex determination in B. tabaci and reveal a potential target for RNA interference-based pest management.

Original language	English
Article number	55
Journal	Frontiers in Physiology
Volume	11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.00055
State	Published - Feb 25 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2020 Liu, Yang, Huo, Wang, Wu, Zhou, Xie and Zhang.

Funding

Funding. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31420103919, 31871970, and 31672032), the Beijing Nova Program (Z171100001117039), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2018M641559), the China’s Agricultural Research System (CARS-24-C-02), the Science and Technology Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS-ASTIP-IVFCAAS), and the Beijing Key Laboratory for Pest Control and Sustainable Cultivation of Vegetables. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31420103919, 31871970, and 31672032), the Beijing Nova Program (Z171100001117039), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2018M641559), the China’s Agricultural Research System (CARS-24-C-02), the Science and Technology Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS-ASTIP-IVFCAAS), and the Beijing Key Laboratory for Pest Control and Sustainable Cultivation of Vegetables.

Funders	Funder number
Beijing Key Laboratory for Pest Control and Sustainable Cultivation of Vegetables
CAAS-ASTIP-IVFCAAS
China’s Agricultural Research System
National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)	31871970, 31420103919, 31672032
China Postdoctoral Science Foundation	2018M641559
Beijing Nova Program	Z171100001117039
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Agriculture Research System of China	CARS-24-C-02

Keywords

Bemisia tabaci
RNA interference
intersex
pest control
sex determination

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Physiology
Physiology (medical)

Access to Document

10.3389/fphys.2020.00055

Cite this

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abstract = "The intersex (ix) gene acts in concert with doublesex (dsx) at the end of the sex determination hierarchy to control somatic sexual differentiation in Drosophila melanogaster. Here, we report the Drosophila ix homolog in Bemisia tabaci (Btix) with differential splicing events. Four isoforms were found in B. tabaci adults, including two sex-specific transcripts (BtixF and BtixM). Knockdown of Btix had no measurable effects on female morphological phenotypes but reduced the expression of the vitellogenin gene and resulted in the production of significantly fewer eggs, a lower eclosion rate, and a shorter body size of female progeny in comparison with control females. These results increase our understanding of the genes underlying sex determination in B. tabaci and reveal a potential target for RNA interference-based pest management.",

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AU - Liu, Yating

AU - Yang, Jinjian

AU - Huo, Zhijia

AU - Wang, Shaoli

AU - Wu, Qingjun

AU - Zhou, Xuguo

AU - Xie, Wen

AU - Zhang, Youjun

PY - 2020/2/25

Y1 - 2020/2/25

N2 - The intersex (ix) gene acts in concert with doublesex (dsx) at the end of the sex determination hierarchy to control somatic sexual differentiation in Drosophila melanogaster. Here, we report the Drosophila ix homolog in Bemisia tabaci (Btix) with differential splicing events. Four isoforms were found in B. tabaci adults, including two sex-specific transcripts (BtixF and BtixM). Knockdown of Btix had no measurable effects on female morphological phenotypes but reduced the expression of the vitellogenin gene and resulted in the production of significantly fewer eggs, a lower eclosion rate, and a shorter body size of female progeny in comparison with control females. These results increase our understanding of the genes underlying sex determination in B. tabaci and reveal a potential target for RNA interference-based pest management.

AB - The intersex (ix) gene acts in concert with doublesex (dsx) at the end of the sex determination hierarchy to control somatic sexual differentiation in Drosophila melanogaster. Here, we report the Drosophila ix homolog in Bemisia tabaci (Btix) with differential splicing events. Four isoforms were found in B. tabaci adults, including two sex-specific transcripts (BtixF and BtixM). Knockdown of Btix had no measurable effects on female morphological phenotypes but reduced the expression of the vitellogenin gene and resulted in the production of significantly fewer eggs, a lower eclosion rate, and a shorter body size of female progeny in comparison with control females. These results increase our understanding of the genes underlying sex determination in B. tabaci and reveal a potential target for RNA interference-based pest management.

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KW - pest control

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Characteristic and Functional Study of Intersex, a Gene Related to Female Fertility in Bemisia tabaci

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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