Comparative analysis of zygotic developmental genes in Rhodnius prolixus genome shows conserved features on the tracheal developmental pathway.

LAVORE, A; PASCUAL, A; SALINAS, F.M.; ESPONDA-BEHRENS, N; MARTÍNEZ BARNETCHE, J; RODRIGUEZ, MH; RIVERA POMAR R

INSECT BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015 vol. 64 p. 32 - 43

0965-1748

Most of the in-depth studies on insect developmental genetic have been carriedout in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, an holometabolous insect, so muchmore still remains to be studied in hemimetabolous insects. Having Rhodniusprolixus sequenced genome available, we search for orthologue genes of zygoticsignaling pathways, segmentation, and tracheogenesis in the R. prolixus genomeand in three species of Triatoma genus transcriptomes, concluding that there is ahigh level of gene conservation. We also study the function of two genes requiredfor tracheal system development in D. melanogaster - R. prolixus orthologues:trachealess (Rp-trh) and empty spiracles (Rp-ems). From that we see that Rp-trhis required for early tracheal development since Rp-trh RNAi shows that theprimary tracheal branches fail to form. On the other hand, Rp-ems is implied inthe proper formation of the posterior tracheal branches, in a similar way toD. melanogaster. These results represent the initial characterization of thegenes involved in the tracheal development of an hemimetabolous insect building abridge between the current genomic era and V. Wigglesworth´s classical studies oninsects´ respiratory system physiology.