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. 2020 Mar 10;11(3):176.
doi: 10.3390/insects11030176.

Transcriptomic Analysis Following Artificial Selection for Grasshopper Size

Shuang Li  1 , Dong-Nan Cui  1 , Hidayat Ullah  1   2 , Jun Chen  1 , Shao-Fang Liu  1   3 , Douglas W Whitman  4 , Ze-Hua Zhang  1 , Xiong-Bing Tu  1
Affiliations

Transcriptomic Analysis Following Artificial Selection for Grasshopper Size

Shuang Li et al. Insects. .

Abstract

We analyzed the transcriptomes of Romalea microptera grasshoppers after 8 years of artificial selection for either long or short thoraces. Evolution proceeded rapidly during the experiment, with a 13.3% increase and a 32.2% decrease in mean pronotum lengths (sexes combined) in the up- and down-selected colonies, respectively, after only 11 generations. At least 16 additional traits also diverged between the two colonies during the selection experiment. Transcriptomic analysis identified 693 differentially expressed genes, with 386 upregulated and 307 downregulated (55.7% vs. 44.3%), including cellular process, metabolic process, binding, general function prediction only, and signal transduction mechanisms. Many of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) are known to influence animal body size.

Keywords: DEGs; ECM–receptor interaction; Mtor; PI3K-Akt; Romalea microptera; body size; genetic correlation; phenylalanine metabolism; rapid evolution; transcriptome.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Number of unigenes of Romalea microptera explained and classified by Gene Ontology (GO) data library in different functional groups within the categories of biological process, cellular component, and molecular function.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percent of Romalea microptera’s unigenes in each functional category for expressivity and dominancy, explained and classified by the Keeper of the Grove (KOG) database.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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