RNAi studies reveal a conserved role for RXR in molting in the cockroach Blattella germanica.
Ecdysteroids play a major role during developmental growth in insects. The more active form of these hormones, 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), acts upon binding to its heterodimeric receptor, formed by the two nuclear receptors, EcR and RXR/USP. Functional characterization of USP has been exclusively conducted on the holometabolous insect Drosophila melanogaster. However, it has been impossible to extend such analysis to primitive-hemimetabolous insects since species of this group are not amenable to genetic analysis. The development of methodologies based on gene silencing using RNA interference (RNAi) after treatment with double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) in vivo has resolved such limitations. In this paper, we show that injection of dsRNA into the haemocoel of nymphs and adults of the cockroach Blattella germanica can be used to silence gene function in vivo. In our initial attempt to test RNAi techniques, we halted the expression of the adult-specific vitellogenin gene. We then used the same technique to silence the expression of the B. germanica RXR/USP (BgRXR) gene in vivo during the last nymphal instar. BgRXR knockdown nymphs progressed through the instar correctly but they arrested development at the end of the stage and were unable to molt into adults. The results described herein suggest that RXR/USP function, in relation to molting, is conserved across the insect Class.
Martín
David
D
Departament de Fisiologia i Biodiversitat Molecular, Institut de Biologia Molecular de Barcelona (CID, CSIC), Jordi Girona 18, 08034 Barcelona, Spain. dmcagr@cid.csic.es
Maestro
Oscar
O
Cruz
Josefa
J
Mané-Padrós
Daniel
D
Bellés
Xavier
X
D000818:Animals; D020048:Blattellidae / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D018978:Molting / Q000502:physiology*; D009758:Nymph / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D010641:Phenotype; D034622:RNA Interference; D047488:Retinoid X Receptors / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D014819:Vitellogenins / Q000378:metabolism
D047488:Retinoid X Receptors; D014819:Vitellogenins