Comparative transcriptomics of aphid species that diverged > 22 MYA reveals genes that are important for the maintenance of their symbiosis.

ABSTRACT: Most plant-sap feeding insects have obligate relationships with maternally transmitted bacteria. Aphids require their nutritional endosymbiont, Buchnera aphidicola, for the production of essential amino acids. Such endosymbionts are harbored inside of specialized insect cells called bacteriocytes. Here, we use comparative transcriptomics of bacteriocytes between two recently diverged aphid species, Myzus persicae and Acyrthosiphon pisum, to identify key genes that are important for the maintenance of their nutritional mutualism. The majority of genes with conserved expression profiles in M. persicae and A. pisum are for orthologs previously identified in A. pisum to be important for the symbiosis. However, asparaginase which produces aspartate from asparagine was significantly up-regulated

SUBMITTER: Argandona JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10067822 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature