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A singular cockroach insulin-like peptide specific for a male reproductive gland

ABSTRACT: The insulin-IGF-signalling (IIS) pathway plays crucial roles in animal physiology. In insects, this pathway works using multiple ligands, insulin-like peptides (ILPs), and a lower number of insulin receptors (InRs). Consequently, much of the regulation of IIS pathway activity is driven by the expression of ILPs, its timing, tissue, and mode of action: endocrine, paracrine, or autocrine. In the adult male of the cockroach Blattella germanica, tissue expression and the regulation in relation to food restriction of the BgILP1-7 genes is similar to that observed in females. However, we identified the expression of BgILP8, an ILP absent in females, in the conglobate gland of males, and only in this organ. BgILP8 expression in the conglobate gland is high during the initial days of adulthood and is reduced under starvation. The conglobate gland is a male sexual accessory gland specific to cockroaches, involved in spermatophore formation. It is composed of twisted tubules that ramify into different branches and converge in a general collecting tubule that opens into the ejaculatory duct. The tubules are lined with a single layer of secretory cells, each of the cells crossed by a small ductule formed by cuticle and actin fibres through which the secretory products will be released. Decreasing BgILP8 levels through RNAi (dsILP8) resulted in a reduction in the size of secretory cells, although the total protein extracted remained unaffected. A comparison of the transcriptomes of control and dsILP8 glands revealed only small differences. Further, comparing genes expressed in the conglobate gland to those expressed in adult females provided a list of putative conglobate gland-specific genes. Our results suggest that BgILP8 plays a role in the development of the conglobate gland. However, a potential function in other male organs or its possible transfer to the female in the copulation cannot be ruled out.

ORGANISM(S): Blattella germanica

PROVIDER: GSE293087 | GEO | 2025/06/17

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:In internally fertilizing organisms, mating involves a series of highly coordinated molecular interactions between the sexes that occur within the female reproductive tract. In species with promiscuous mating systems, traits involved in postcopulatory interactions are expected to evolve rapidly, potentially leading to postmating-prezygotic (PMPZ) reproductive isolation between diverging populations. Here, we use a novel study design to investigate the postmating transcriptional response of Drosophila mojavensis female reproductive tracts following copulation with either conspecific or heterospecific (D. arizonae) males at three time points postmating. Relatively few genes (15 total) were transcriptionally regulated in the female lower reproductive tract in response to conspecific mating. Heterospecifically-mated females exhibited significant perturbations in the expression of the majority of these genes, and also downregulated transcription of a number of others, including several involved in mitochondrial function. These striking regulatory differences indicate failed postcopulatory molecular interactions between the sexes consistent with the strong PMPZ isolation observed for this cross. We also report, for the first time, the transfer of male mRNA transcripts to females during copulation. These included transcripts from male accessory-gland proteins (ACPs), a finding with potentially broad implications for understanding postcopulatory molecular interactions between the sexes. Dataset from Postmating transcriptional changes in reproductive tracts of con- and heterospecifically-mated Drosophila mojavensis females Bono, JM, Matzkin,LM, Kelleher, ES, and Markow, MA, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. The treatments were con- and heterospecific mated D. mojavensis females. Three different post-copulation times points were assayed, 15 minutes, 2 hours and 6 hours. For each time point there were two independent replicates. Additionally, two replicates of a virgin D. mojavensis female control were assayed. A total of 14 arrays. All RNA extractions were from the lower reproductive tract of females.

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A singular cockroach insulin-like peptide specific for a male reproductive gland

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