Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

De novo transcriptome analysis of the common New Zealand stick insect clitarchus hookeri (Phasmatodea) Reveals genes involved in olfaction, digestion and sexual reproduction

Wu, Chen ; Crowhurst, Ross N. ; Dennis, Alice B. ; Twort, Victoria G. LU ; Liu, Shanlin ; Newcomb, Richard D. ; Ross, Howard A. and Buckley, Thomas R. (2016) In PLoS ONE 11(6).
Abstract

Phasmatodea, more commonly known as stick insects, have been poorly studied at the molecular level for several key traits, such as components of the sensory system and regulators of reproduction and development, impeding a deeper understanding of their functional biology. Here, we employ de novo transcriptome analysis to identify genes with primary functions related to female odour reception, digestion, and male sexual traits in the New Zealand common stick insect Clitarchus hookeri (White). The female olfactory gene repertoire revealed ten odorant binding proteins with three recently duplicated, 12 chemosensory proteins, 16 odorant receptors, and 17 ionotropic receptors. The majority of these olfactory genes were over-expressed in... (More)

Phasmatodea, more commonly known as stick insects, have been poorly studied at the molecular level for several key traits, such as components of the sensory system and regulators of reproduction and development, impeding a deeper understanding of their functional biology. Here, we employ de novo transcriptome analysis to identify genes with primary functions related to female odour reception, digestion, and male sexual traits in the New Zealand common stick insect Clitarchus hookeri (White). The female olfactory gene repertoire revealed ten odorant binding proteins with three recently duplicated, 12 chemosensory proteins, 16 odorant receptors, and 17 ionotropic receptors. The majority of these olfactory genes were over-expressed in female antennae and have the inferred function of odorant reception. Others that were predominantly expressed in male terminalia (n = 3) and female midgut (n = 1) suggest they have a role in sexual reproduction and digestion, respectively. Over-represented transcripts in the midgut were enriched with digestive enzyme gene families. Clitarchus hookeri is likely to harbour nine members of an endogenous cellulase family (glycoside hydrolase family 9), two of which appear to be specific to the C. hookeri lineage. All of these cellulase sequences fall into four main phasmid clades and show gene duplication events occurred early in the diversification of Phasmatodea. In addition, C. hookeri genome is likely to express γ-proteobacteria pectinase transcripts that have recently been shown to be the result of horizontal transfer. We also predicted 711 male terminalia- enriched transcripts that are candidate accessory gland proteins, 28 of which were annotated to have molecular functions of peptidase activity and peptidase inhibitor activity, two groups being widely reported to regulate female reproduction through proteolytic cascades. Our study has yielded new insights into the genetic basis of odour detection, nutrient.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
PLoS ONE
volume
11
issue
6
article number
e0157783
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:84976583532
  • pmid:27336743
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0157783
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
8b93338b-371c-4907-80c7-8e69d255a97a
date added to LUP
2017-12-08 09:45:57
date last changed
2024-03-01 11:06:10
@article{8b93338b-371c-4907-80c7-8e69d255a97a,
  abstract     = {{<p>Phasmatodea, more commonly known as stick insects, have been poorly studied at the molecular level for several key traits, such as components of the sensory system and regulators of reproduction and development, impeding a deeper understanding of their functional biology. Here, we employ de novo transcriptome analysis to identify genes with primary functions related to female odour reception, digestion, and male sexual traits in the New Zealand common stick insect Clitarchus hookeri (White). The female olfactory gene repertoire revealed ten odorant binding proteins with three recently duplicated, 12 chemosensory proteins, 16 odorant receptors, and 17 ionotropic receptors. The majority of these olfactory genes were over-expressed in female antennae and have the inferred function of odorant reception. Others that were predominantly expressed in male terminalia (n = 3) and female midgut (n = 1) suggest they have a role in sexual reproduction and digestion, respectively. Over-represented transcripts in the midgut were enriched with digestive enzyme gene families. Clitarchus hookeri is likely to harbour nine members of an endogenous cellulase family (glycoside hydrolase family 9), two of which appear to be specific to the C. hookeri lineage. All of these cellulase sequences fall into four main phasmid clades and show gene duplication events occurred early in the diversification of Phasmatodea. In addition, C. hookeri genome is likely to express γ-proteobacteria pectinase transcripts that have recently been shown to be the result of horizontal transfer. We also predicted 711 male terminalia- enriched transcripts that are candidate accessory gland proteins, 28 of which were annotated to have molecular functions of peptidase activity and peptidase inhibitor activity, two groups being widely reported to regulate female reproduction through proteolytic cascades. Our study has yielded new insights into the genetic basis of odour detection, nutrient.</p>}},
  author       = {{Wu, Chen and Crowhurst, Ross N. and Dennis, Alice B. and Twort, Victoria G. and Liu, Shanlin and Newcomb, Richard D. and Ross, Howard A. and Buckley, Thomas R.}},
  issn         = {{1932-6203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  number       = {{6}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{De novo transcriptome analysis of the common New Zealand stick insect clitarchus hookeri (Phasmatodea) Reveals genes involved in olfaction, digestion and sexual reproduction}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157783}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0157783}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}