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Functional analysis of a chitinase gene during the larval-nymph transition in Panonychus citri by RNA interference

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Abstract

Chitinases are hydrolytic enzymes that are required for chitin degradation and reconstruction in arthropods. In this study, we report a cDNA sequence encoding a putative chitinase (PcCht1) from the citrus red mite, Panonychus citri. The PcCht1 (564 aa) possessed a signal peptide, a conserver domain, and a chitin-binding domain. Structural and phylogenetic analyses found that PcCht1 had high sequence similarity to chitinases in Tetranychus urticae. Real-time quantitative PCR analyses showed that the transcript levels of PcCht1 peaked periodically in larval and nymph stages. Moreover, significant increase of PcCht1 transcript level in the larvae was observed upon the exposure of diflubenzuron. In contrast, exposures of the larvae to diflubenzuron resulted in the decreased chitin content. Furthermore, through a feeding-based RNA interference approach, we were able to reduce the PcCht1 transcript level by 59.7 % in the larvae, and consequently the treated larvae showed a very low molting rate compared with the control. Our results expanded the understanding of the important role of PcCht1 in the growth and development of P. citri.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by Special Fund for Agro-Scientific Research in the Public Interest (201203038), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (XDJK2013A017), and the earmarked fund for the Modern Agro-industry (Citrus) Technology Research System of China to Jin-Jun Wang. We also thank Hao Hu and Gang Li for their technical assistance in this study.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Entomology and Pest Control Engineering, College of Plant Protection, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400716, China

    Wen-Kai Xia, Xiao-Min Shen, Tian-Bo Ding, Jin-Zhi Niu, Rui Zhong, Chong-Yu Liao, Ying-Cai Feng, Wei Dou & Jin-Jun Wang

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  1. Wen-Kai Xia
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Correspondence to Jin-Jun Wang.

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Xia, WK., Shen, XM., Ding, TB. et al. Functional analysis of a chitinase gene during the larval-nymph transition in Panonychus citri by RNA interference. Exp Appl Acarol 70, 1–15 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-016-0063-0

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