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Elevated couch potato transcripts associated with adult diapause in the mosquito Culex pipiens.

ABSTRACT: The couch potato (cpo) cDNA that we cloned from the northern house mosquito, Culex pipiens, encodes the C-terminus containing a highly conserved RNA recognition motif (RRM). Protein structure prediction indicates a canonical RRM structure with a ?????? topological structure. Northern blots indicate a single mRNA band over 9.49 kb, and Southern blot analysis suggests that the cpo gene contains large introns. Highest expression was noted in first instar larvae and pupae. A comparison of nondiapausing (long daylength) and diapausing (short daylength) adult females showed no difference immediately at adult eclosion, but by day 7 and thereafter, expression of cpo was much higher in diapausing adults. When 2-month old diapausing females were transferred from short daylength to diapausing-terminating conditions of long daylength and high temperature, expression of cpo declined. Similarly, when a topical application of JH III was used to terminate diapause abundance of the cpo transcript declined. Consistent with observations in Drosophila melanogaster and several other species levels of cpo in C. pipiens are influenced by the diapause program, although the direction of change is not the same in all species.

SUBMITTER: Zhang Q

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3104097 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Elevated couch potato transcripts associated with adult diapause in the mosquito Culex pipiens.

Zhang Qirui Q Denlinger David L DL

Journal of insect physiology 20110217 5

The couch potato (cpo) cDNA that we cloned from the northern house mosquito, Culex pipiens, encodes the C-terminus containing a highly conserved RNA recognition motif (RRM). Protein structure prediction indicates a canonical RRM structure with a βαββαβ topological structure. Northern blots indicate a single mRNA band over 9.49 kb, and Southern blot analysis suggests that the cpo gene contains large introns. Highest expression was noted in first instar larvae and pupae. A comparison of nondiapaus ...[more]

PMID: 21315077

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Project description:For many insects, diapause is the primary mechanism for surviving unfavorable seasons. Some aspects of diapause regulation are well known, but we still lack a mechanistic understanding of molecular mechanisms that control the diapause pathway. Accumulating evidence suggests microRNAs regulate diapause in evolutionarily diverse insect species including flesh flies and moths, and, it is likely that microRNAs regulate multiple characteristics of diapause, including arrested egg follicle development and fat hypertrophy, in females of the Northern house mosquito, Culex pipiens. To investigate microRNA regulation of diapause in this species, we measured changes in egg follicle development and total lipid content over 22 days following adult emergence. We also evaluated changes in the abundance of candidate microRNAs associated with these physical changes during the same time frame. We found egg follicle size and lipid content were nearly the same in diapausing and nondiapausing females on the day of adult emergence, and then diverged over time such that by day 22 diapausing females had significantly smaller egg follicles and higher total lipids than their nondiapausing counterparts. Several microRNAs associated with lipid metabolism in insects, including miR-14-3p, miR-277-3p, and miR-305-5p, were underexpressed in diapausing females compared to nondiapausing females on the day of adult emergence, which suggests microRNA regulation occurs ahead of observed changes in these two features of the diapause phenotype. We also found miR-309-3p, miR-375-3p which stimulate ovarian development in other mosquito species, were underexpressed in diapausing females of Cx. pipiens at times after diapause is fully established and may be responsible for the arrest in ovarian development in this species. Taken together, our results demonstrate that changes in the abundance of some microRNAs is associated with phenotypic changes in diapause Cx. pipiens and suggests this epigenetic mechanism is part of the molecular toolkit regulating diapause.

Dataset Information

Elevated couch potato transcripts associated with adult diapause in the mosquito Culex pipiens.

Publications

Elevated couch potato transcripts associated with adult diapause in the mosquito Culex pipiens.

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