| Popis: |
Background: The wing polyphenism occurs under crowding and nutrition-deficiency conditions in most aphid species. Although the influence of environmental factors on wing polyphenism of aphids have been extensively investigated, molecular mechanisms underlining morph differentiation (i.e. wing development /degeneration) has been poorly understood. Results: We examined the expression levels of the twenty genes involved in wing patterning network, and only vestigial (vg ) showed significantly different expression levels in both whole-body and wall-body of third instar nymphs, with 5.4- and 16.14- fold higher in winged lines compared to wingless lines, respectively in Rhopalosiphum padi . Moreover, vg expressions were higher in winged aphids compared to wingless aphids at third, fourth instar nymphs and adults, and larger difference ratio were observed in third (21.38-fold) and fourth (20.91-fold) instar nymphs relative to adult (3.12-fold) between wing morphs. Suppression of vg using RNAi repressed the wing development of third winged morphs. Furthermore, dual luciferase reporter assay revealed that the miR-147 can target the vg mRNA, and modulation of miR-147b levels by microinjection of its mimics decreased vg expression levels and repressed wing development. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that vg is essential for wing development and that miR-147b modulates its expression. To our knowledge, our results provide an evidence that miRNA is involved in the regulation of wing morphs in aphids. |
