Genome-wide dissection of sex determination genes in the highly invasive whitefly species Bemisia tabaci Q/MED

Y. Liu, W. Xie, L. Guo, X. Yang, J. Yang, S. Wang, Q. Wu, X. Zhou, Y. Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Sex determination genes are important regulators of reproduction as well as of the development of both behavioural and morphological sex characteristics. The sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), is an emerging insect pest worldwide. The recent release of the genome sequence of the highly invasive B. tabaciQ/MED allows us to investigate the mechanisms and genes involved in sex determination. The combined genome and transcriptome-wide analyses identified 26 genes putatively associated with sex determination in B. tabaciQ/MED. The temporal profiles of these genes exhibited a consistent expression pattern at all B. tabaci developmental stages: the highest transcript levels were detected in eggs (21 genes, 80.8%) and the lowest in adults (24 genes, 92.3%). The expression pattern was further validated by quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR analysis. Alternative splicing analysis found that (1) da and mle have sex-specific isoforms in B. tabaci adults, whereas Imp does not, and (2) exon skipping is a common splicing mechanism involved in B. tabaci sex determination. This research provides a comprehensive list of genes involved in B. tabaci sex determination and provides an opportunity to further understand the mechanisms underlying sex determination in a globally invasive insect pest that reproduces both sexually and asexually.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)509-519
Number of pages11
JournalInsect Molecular Biology
Volume28
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Royal Entomological Society

Keywords

  • Bemisia tabaci
  • annotation
  • genome
  • sex determination
  • transcriptome

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Molecular Biology
  • Genetics
  • Insect Science

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