title: Transcriptome analysis of fat bodies from two brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens) populations with different virulence levels in rice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (Stål), one of the most serious rice insect pests in Asia, can quickly overcome rice resistance by evolving new virulent populations. The insect fat body plays essential roles in the life cycles of insects and in plant-insect interactions. However, whether differences in fat body transcriptomes exist between insect populations with different virulence levels and whether the transcriptomic differences are related to insect virulence remain largely unknown.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this study, we performed transcriptome-wide analyses on the fat bodies of two BPH populations with different virulence levels in rice. The populations were derived from rice variety TN1 (TN1 population) and Mudgo (M population). In total, 33,776 and 32,332 unigenes from the fat bodies of TN1 and M populations, respectively, were generated using Illumina technology. Gene ontology annotations and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) orthology classifications indicated that genes related to metabolism and immunity were significantly active in the fat bodies. In addition, a total of 339 unigenes showed homology to genes of yeast-like symbionts (YLSs) from 12 genera and endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia. A comparative analysis of the two transcriptomes generated 7,860 differentially expressed genes. GO annotations and enrichment analysis of KEGG pathways indicated these differentially expressed transcripts might be involved in metabolism and immunity. Finally, 105 differentially expressed genes from YLSs and Wolbachia were identified, genes which might be associated with the formation of different virulent populations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study was the first to compare the fat-body transcriptomes of two BPH populations having different virulence traits and to find genes that may be related to this difference. Our findings provide a molecular resource for future investigations of fat bodies and will be useful in examining the interactions between the fat body and virulence variation in the BPH.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Haixin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Wenfeng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hongdan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Research and Development Center of Rice Production Technology, China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Wenxiang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: Research and Development Center of Rice Production Technology, China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yonggen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D005216:Fat Body / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015723:Gene Library; D016678:Genome; D006430:Hemiptera / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology*; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D012275:Oryza; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013045:Species Specificity; D059467:Transcriptome; D014774:Virulence; D020577:Wolbachia / Q000235:genetics; D015262:Xenobiotics / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D015262:Xenobiotics