Providing genetic tools to the development of specific control strategies to the South American fruit fly, Anastrepha fraterculus sp1, using a transcriptome approach

WULFF, JUAN PEDRO; MUNTAABSKI, IRINA; SCANNAPIECO, ALEJANDRA CARLA; RIVAROLA, MÁXIMO; CLADERA, JORGE LUIS; CONTE, CLAUDIA; MILLA, FABIÁN; LANZAVECCHIA, SILVIA BEATRIZ

Congreso; Congreso Americano de Moscas de la Fruta; 2020

Instituto Colombiano Agropecuario y Grupo de Trabajo en Moscas de la Fruta del Hemisferio Occidental (TWWH)

The American fruit fly, Anastrepha fraterculus Wiedemann (Diptera: Tephritidae) is an important agricultural pest in the New World. The lack of environmentally friendly control strategies against this species reinforces the search for genes potentially useful for their genetic control. We generated RNA-seq libraries from whole-body samples of A. fratercuclus sp.1, including two different developmental stages (sexually-mature adults of both sexes and 72 h embryos). Our analyses indicate that the de novo transcriptome assembly is fairly complete (63% complete BUSCO orthologs detected) with a total of 86925 transcripts assembled and 28756 GO annotated sequences. A number of contrasting expressed transcripts were detected in paired comparisons between libraries (286 embryos/adults and 204 males/females). RNA-seq analysis allowed the identification and annotation of transcripts through GO and/or Blast search, then the expression profiles of a selection of loci were assessed by qRT-PCR. Transcripts highly represented in embryos as those corresponding to a heat shock protein (hsp27), transformer 2 and serendipity α were analyzed. In addition, transcripts highly represented in sexually-mature adults involved in courtship behavior and reproduction were evaluated. Specifically, we analyzed an odorant-binding protein (obp50a1), takeout protein (to) and transcripts associated to physiological pathways (androgen-induced protein and maltase 2 like protein). Furthermore, the transcriptome assembly here described enabled the identification of 14262 microsatellite motifs potentially useful for population genetics studies and linkage analysis of genomic regions of interest. In sum, our study contributes with a set of candidate genes that are possibly involved in early developmental pathways and reproduction in this insect species of economic importance. We discussed our results considering their contribution to explore behavioral and physiological mechanisms, including new molecular markers potentially useful to the development of genetic control strategies against this important pest species.