Transcriptome and Expression Patterns of Chemosensory Genes in Antennae of the Parasitoid Wasp Chouioia cunea

Abstract

Chouioia cunea Yang is an endoparasitic wasp that attacks pupae of Hyphantria cunea (Drury), an invasive moth species that severely damages forests in China. Chemosensory systems of insects are used to detect volatile chemical odors such as female sex pheromones and host plant volatiles. The antennae of parasite wasps are important for host detection and other sensory-mediated behaviors. We identified and documented differential expression profiles of chemoreception genes in C. cunea antennae. A total of 25 OBPs, 80 ORs, 10 IRs, 11 CSP, 1 SNMPs, and 17 GRs were annotated from adult male and female C. cunea antennal transcriptomes. The expression profiles of 25 OBPs, 16 ORs, and 17 GRs, 5 CSP, 5 IRs and 1 SNMP were determined by RT-PCR and RT-qPCR for the antenna, head, thorax, and abdomen of male and female C. cunea. A total of 8 OBPs, 14 ORs, and 8 GRs, 1 CSP, 4 IRs and 1 SNMPs were exclusively or primarily expressed in female antennae. These female antennal-specific or dominant expression profiles may assist in locating suitable host and oviposition sites. These genes will provide useful targets for advanced study of their biological functions.

Fig 1. The size distuibution of the assembled unigenes from C.cunea male and female antennal transcriptomes.

Fig 2. The best hits of the BLASTn results.

All C. cunea antennal unigenes were used in BLASTn to search the GenBank entries. The best hits with an E-value = 1.0E-5 for each query were grouped according to species.

Fig 3. Gene Ontology (GO) classifications of the male and female C. cunea antennal unigenes according to their involvement in biological processes, cellular component and molecular function.

Fig 4. C. cunea OBPs transcript levels in different body parts as evaluated by RT-PCR.

GADPH was used as a control for the integrity of each cDNA template. MA: male antennae; FA: female antennae; MH: male heads; FH: female heads; MT: male thoraxes; FT: female thoraxes; MB: male abdomen; FB: male abdomen. Black graphic indicats robust amplification defined as a clearly detectable amplimer in the agarose gel, gray graphic indicates faint amplication, “-” indicates no amplification. Antennae specific or enriched genes are labeled with a capital letter “A”.

Fig 5. C. cunea ORs transcript levels in different body parts as evaluated by RT-PCR.

GADPH was used as a control for the integrity of each cDNA template. MA: male antennae; FA: female antennae; MH: male heads; FH: female heads; MT: male thoraxes; FT: female thoraxes; MB: male abdomen; FB: male abdomen. Black graphic indicats robust amplification defined as a clearly detectable amplimer in the agarose gel, gray graphic indicates faint amplication, “-” indicates no amplification. Antennae specific or enriched genes are labeled with a capital letter “A”.

Fig 6. C. cunea GRs, CSPs, IRs and SNMP1 transcript levels in different body parts as evaluated by RT-PCR.

GADPH was used as a control for the integrity of each cDNA template. MA: male antennae; FA: female antennae; MH: male heads; FH: female heads; MT: male thoraxes; FT: female thoraxes; MB: male abdomen; FB: male abdomen. Black graphic indicats robust amplification defined as a clearly detectable amplimer in the agarose gel, gray graphic indicates faint amplication, “-” indicates no amplification. Antennae specific or enriched genes are labeled with a capital letter “A”.

Fig 7. C.cunea OBPs transcript levels in different tissues as measured by RT-qPCR.

MA: male antennae; FA: female antennae; MH: male head; FH: female head; MT: male thorax; FT: female thorax; MB: male abdomen; FB: female abdomen. The glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GADPH) was used to normalize transcript levels in each sample. The standard error is represented by the error bar, and the different letters (a, b, c) above each bar denote significant differences (p<0.05).

Fig 8. C.cunea ORs transcript levels in different tissues as measured by RT-qPCR.

MA: male antennae; FA: female antennae; MH: male head; FH: female head; MT: male thorax; FT: female thorax; MB: male abdomen; FB: female abdomen. The glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GADPH) was used to normalize transcript levels in each sample. The standard error is represented by the error bar, and the different letters (a, b, c) above each bar denote significant differences (p<0.05).

Fig 9. C.cunea GRs transcript levels in different tissues as measured by RT-qPCR.

MA: male antennae; FA: female antennae; MH: male head; FH: female head; MT: male thorax; FT: female thorax; MB: male abdomen; FB: female abdomen. The glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GADPH) was used to normalize transcript levels in each sample. The standard error is represented by the error bar, and the different letters (a, b, c) above each bar denote significant differences (p<0.05).

Fig 10. C.cunea CSPs transcript levels in different tissues as measured by RT-qPCR.

MA: male antennae; FA: female antennae; MH: male head; FH: female head; MT: male thorax; FT: female thorax; MB: male abdomen; FB: female abdomen. The glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GADPH) was used to normalize transcript levels in each sample. The standard error is represented by the error bar, and the different letters (a, b, c) above each bar denote significant differences (p<0.05).

Fig 11. C.cunea IRs and SNMP transcript levels in different tissues as measured by RT-qPCR.

MA: male antennae; FA: female antennae; MH: male head; FH: female head; MT: male thorax; FT: female thorax; MB: male abdomen; FB: female abdomen. The glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GADPH) was used to normalize transcript levels in each sample. The standard error is represented by the error bar, and the different letters (a, b, c) above each bar denote significant differences (p<0.05).