A feminizing switch in a hemimetabolous insect.

ABSTRACT: The mechanism of sex determination remains poorly understood in hemimetabolous insects. Here, in the brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens, a hemipteran rice pest, we identified a feminizing switch or a female determiner (Nlfmd) that encodes a serine/arginine-rich protein. Knockdown of Nlfmd in female nymphs resulted in masculinization of both the somatic morphology and doublesex splicing. The female-specific isoform of Nlfmd, Nlfmd-F, is maternally deposited and zygotically transcribed. Depletion of Nlfmd by maternal RNAi or CRISPR-Cas9 resulted in female-specific embryonic lethality. Knockdown of an hnRNP40 family gene named female determiner 2 (Nlfmd2) also conferred masculinization. In vitro experiments showed

SUBMITTER: Zhuo JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8626073 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature