Transcriptomic changes in the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum: Effects of the seasonal timer and photoperiod

Many insect species use photoperiod as a cue for induction of seasonal responses, including seasonal polyphenism. Although most aphid species viviparously produce parthenogenetic and sexual morphs under long and short days, respectively, a seasonal timer suppresses the sexual morph production over s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part D, Genomics & proteomics Genomics & proteomics, 2020-12, Vol.36, p.100740-100740, Article 100740
Main Authors: Matsuda, Naoki, Numata, Hideharu, Udaka, Hiroko
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Gene ontology
Maternal effect
Photoperiodism
Polyphenism
RNA sequencing
Seasonality
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Summary:Many insect species use photoperiod as a cue for induction of seasonal responses, including seasonal polyphenism. Although most aphid species viviparously produce parthenogenetic and sexual morphs under long and short days, respectively, a seasonal timer suppresses the sexual morph production over several successive generations during a few months following hatching of a sexually produced diapause egg. To reveal the relative influences of photoperiod and the seasonal timer on the reproductive polyphenism at the gene expression level, we performed RNA sequencing-based transcriptome analyses in the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Hemiptera: Aphididae). Under short days, aphids with an expired seasonal timer showed a higher expression level in hundreds of genes than those with an operative seasonal timer. In contrast, aphids with an operative seasonal timer did not show upregulation in most of these genes. Functional annotations based on gene ontology showed that histone modifications and small non-coding RNA pathways were enriched in aphids with an expired seasonal timer under short-day conditions, suggesting that these epigenetic regulations on gene expression might be involved in a mechanism of maternal switching from the parthenogenetic to sexual morph production. [Display omitted] •A spring generation of an aphid loses photoperiodism in the transcriptome level.•Tens of genes were up- or down-regulated specifically in the spring generation.•Chromosome-organizing genes are enriched in relation to reproductive polyphenism.
ISSN:1744-117X
1878-0407
DOI:10.1016/j.cbd.2020.100740