Metatranscriptomic and transcriptomic analyses of the digestive tract of Spodoptera frugiperda larvae captured in the province of Tucumán.

GASTÓN ROZADILLA; NATALIA A. CABRERA; CHRISTINA B. MCCARTHY

CABA

Conferencia; 4th ISCB Latin America Conference (ISCB-LA) and 7th Argentine Congress of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (CAB2C); 2016

International Society for Computational Biology Latin America y Asociación Argentina de Bioinformática y Biología Computacional

BACKGROUND: Spodoptera frugiperda is a noctuid moth that devastates various crops, including corn, and is found in most of the American continent. Even though transgenic crops that produce insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis are currently the most successful biotechnological pest management application, S. frugiperda has developed field-evolved resistance to Bt maize. The purpose of this study was to integrate gene expression data from S. frugiperda guts and their associated metatranscriptomes under natural conditions.METHODOLOGY/RESULTS: Fifth instar larvae were captured in a corn field where no fertilisers or insecticides were used in Tucumán province. Total RNA extracted from larval guts was submitted to a one-step reverse transcription and PCR sequence independent amplification procedure. Sequence reads were trimmed and assembled. Homology searches were performed against the non-redundant and 16S microbial nucleotide, and non-redundant protein sequence NCBI databases, and the taxonomic and functional contents were analysed with MEGAN. We identified sequences from archaea, bacteria, fungi and nematodes. Additionally, genes related to digestion, development, detoxification and stress response were identified in the larval gut transcriptome. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to report a high-throughput approach integrating gene expression data from S. frugiperda guts and their associated metatranscriptomes. The metatranscriptome revealed potential candidates for the biocontrol of this pest, and others related with host metabolism and digestion. Furthermore, various genes were identified in the expression profile of S. frugiperda larval guts, which represent possible targets for pest control via RNA interference (RNAi). Future studies will test the potential of these putative biocontrol agents.