RESUMEN
The Colorado potato beetle is one of the most challenging agricultural pests to manage. It has shown a spectacular ability to adapt to a variety of solanaceaeous plants and variable climates during its global invasion, and, notably, to rapidly evolve insecticide resistance. To examine evidence of rapid evolutionary change, and to understand the genetic basis of herbivory and insecticide resistance, we tested for structural and functional genomic changes relative to other arthropod species using genome sequencing, transcriptomics, and community annotation. Two factors that might facilitate rapid evolutionary change include transposable elements, which comprise at least 17% of the genome and are rapidly evolving compared to other Coleoptera, and high levels of nucleotide diversity in rapidly growing pest populations. Adaptations to plant feeding are evident in gene expansions and differential expression of digestive enzymes in gut tissues, as well as expansions of gustatory receptors for bitter tasting. Surprisingly, the suite of genes involved in insecticide resistance is similar to other beetles. Finally, duplications in the RNAi pathway might explain why Leptinotarsa decemlineata has high sensitivity to dsRNA. The L. decemlineata genome provides opportunities to investigate a broad range of phenotypes and to develop sustainable methods to control this widely successful pest.
Asunto(s)
Agricultura , Escarabajos/genética , Genoma de los Insectos , Genómica , Solanum tuberosum/parasitología , Animales , Elementos Transponibles de ADN/genética , Evolución Molecular , Femenino , Regulación de la Expresión Génica , Variación Genética , Genética de Población , Interacciones Huésped-Parásitos/genética , Proteínas de Insectos/genética , Proteínas de Insectos/metabolismo , Resistencia a los Insecticidas/genética , Masculino , Anotación de Secuencia Molecular , Familia de Multigenes , Control Biológico de Vectores , Filogenia , Interferencia de ARN , Factores de Transcripción/metabolismoRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Invasive pest species offers a unique opportunity to study the effects of genetic architecture, demography and selection on patterns of genetic variability. Invasive Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) populations have experienced a rapid range expansion and intense selection by insecticides. By comparing native and invasive beetle populations, we studied the origins of organophosphate (OP) resistance-associated mutations in the acetylcholinesterase 2 (AChE2) gene, and the role of selection and demography on its genetic variability. RESULTS: Analysis of three Mexican, two US and five European populations yielded a total of 49 haplotypes. Contrary to the expectations all genetic variability was associated with a point mutation linked to insecticide resistance (S291G), this mutation was found in 100% of Mexican, 95% of US and 71% of European beetle sequences analysed. Only two susceptible haplotypes, genetically very differentiated, were found, one in US and one in Europe. The genetic variability at the AChE2 gene was compared with two other genes not directly affected by insecticide selection, diapause protein 1 and juvenile hormone esterase. All three genes showed reduction in genetic variability indicative of a population bottleneck associated with the invasion. CONCLUSIONS: Stochastic effects during invasion explain most of the observed patterns of genetic variability at the three genes investigated. The high frequency of the S291G mutation in the AChE2 gene among native populations suggests this mutation is the ancestral state and thus, either a pre-adaptation of the beetle for OP resistance or the AChE2 is not the major gene conferring OP resistance. The long historical association with host plant alkaloids together with recombination may have contributed to the high genetic variation at this locus. The genetic diversity in the AChE2 locus of the European beetles, in turn, strongly reflects founder effects followed by rapid invasion. Our results suggest that despite the long history of insecticide use in this species, demographic events together with pre-invasion history have been strongly influential in shaping the genetic diversity of the AChE2 gene in the invasive beetle populations.
Asunto(s)
Acetilcolinesterasa/genética , Escarabajos/genética , Variación Genética , Resistencia a los Insecticidas/genética , Especies Introducidas , Animales , Escarabajos/efectos de los fármacos , Escarabajos/enzimología , Análisis Mutacional de ADN , Genes de Insecto , Genética de Población , Haplotipos , Insecticidas/farmacología , Mutación , Organofosfatos/farmacología , Solanum tuberosumRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: A chicken egg contains several biotin-binding proteins (BBPs), whose complete DNA and amino acid sequences are not known. In order to identify and characterise these genes and proteins we studied chicken cDNAs and genes available in the NCBI database and chicken genome database using the reported N-terminal amino acid sequences of chicken egg-yolk BBPs as search strings. RESULTS: Two separate hits showing significant homology for these N-terminal sequences were discovered. For one of these hits, the chromosomal location in the immediate proximity of the avidin gene family was found. Both of these hits encode proteins having high sequence similarity with avidin suggesting that chicken BBPs are paralogous to avidin family. In particular, almost all residues corresponding to biotin binding in avidin are conserved in these putative BBP proteins. One of the found DNA sequences, however, seems to encode a carboxy-terminal extension not present in avidin. CONCLUSION: We describe here the predicted properties of the putative BBP genes and proteins. Our present observations link BBP genes together with avidin gene family and shed more light on the genetic arrangement and variability of this family. In addition, comparative modelling revealed the potential structural elements important for the functional and structural properties of the putative BBP proteins.