Dataset Information

Regulation of olfactory-based sex behaviors in the silkworm by genes in the sex-determination cascade.

ABSTRACT: Insect courtship and mating depend on integration of olfactory, visual, and tactile cues. Compared to other insects, Bombyx mori, the domesticated silkworm, has relatively simple sexual behaviors as it cannot fly. Here by using CRISPR/Cas9 and electrophysiological techniques we found that courtship and mating behaviors are regulated in male silk moths by mutating genes in the sex determination cascade belonging to two conserved pathways. Loss of Bmdsx gene expression significantly reduced the peripheral perception of the major pheromone component bombykol by reducing expression of the product of the BmOR1 gene which completely blocked courtship in adult males. Interestingly, we found that mating behavior was regulated independently by another sexual differentiation gene, Bmfru. Loss of Bmfru completely blocked mating, but males displayed normal courtship behavior. Lack of Bmfru expression significantly reduced the perception of the minor pheromone component bombykal due to the down regulation of BmOR3 expression; further, functional analysis revealed that loss of the product of BmOR3 played a key role in terminating male mating behavior. Our results suggest that Bmdsx and Bmfru are at the base of the two primary pathways that regulate olfactory-based sexual behavior.

SUBMITTER: Xu J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7307793 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Regulation of olfactory-based sex behaviors in the silkworm by genes in the sex-determination cascade.

Xu Jun J Liu Wei W Yang Dehong D Chen Shuqing S Chen Kai K Liu Zulian Z Yang Xu X Meng Jing J Zhu Guanheng G Dong Shuanglin S Zhang Yong Y Zhan Shuai S Wang Guirong G Huang Yongping Y

PLoS genetics 20200610 6

Insect courtship and mating depend on integration of olfactory, visual, and tactile cues. Compared to other insects, Bombyx mori, the domesticated silkworm, has relatively simple sexual behaviors as it cannot fly. Here by using CRISPR/Cas9 and electrophysiological techniques we found that courtship and mating behaviors are regulated in male silk moths by mutating genes in the sex determination cascade belonging to two conserved pathways. Loss of Bmdsx gene expression significantly reduced the pe ...[more]

PMID: 32520935

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Project description:Sex-specific trait expression represents a striking dimension of morphological variation within and across species. The mechanisms instructing sex-specific organ development have been well studied in a small number of insect model systems, suggesting striking conservation in some parts of the somatic sex determination pathway while hinting at possible evolutionary lability in others. However, further resolution of this phenomenon necessitates additional taxon sampling, particularly in groups in which sexual dimorphisms have undergone significant elaboration and diversification. Here, we functionally investigate the somatic sex determination pathway in the gazelle dung beetle Digitonthophagus gazella, an emerging model system in the study of the development and evolution of sexual dimorphisms. We find that RNA interference (RNAi) targeting transformer (tra) caused chromosomal females to develop morphological traits largely indistinguishable from those normally only observed in males, and that traRNAi is sufficient to induce splicing of the normally male-specific isoform of doublesex in chromosomal females, while leaving males unaffected. Further, intersexRNAi was found to phenocopy previously described RNAi phenotypes of doublesex in female but not male beetles. These findings match predictions derived from models of the sex determination cascade as developed largely through studies in Drosophila melanogaster. In contrast, efforts to target transformer2 via RNAi resulted in high juvenile mortality but did not appear to affect doublesex splicing, whereas RNAi targeting Sex-lethal and two putative orthologs of hermaphrodite yielded no obvious phenotypic modifications in either males or females, raising the possibility that the function of a subset of sex determination genes may be derived in select Diptera and thus nonrepresentative of their roles in other holometabolous orders. Our results help illuminate how the differential evolutionary lability of the somatic sex determination pathway has contributed to the extraordinary morphological diversification of sex-specific trait expression found in nature.

Dataset Information

Regulation of olfactory-based sex behaviors in the silkworm by genes in the sex-determination cascade.

Publications

Regulation of olfactory-based sex behaviors in the silkworm by genes in the sex-determination cascade.

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