title: Sugarcane giant borer transcriptome analysis and identification of genes related to digestion.
abstract: Sugarcane is a widely cultivated plant that serves primarily as a source of sugar and ethanol. Its annual yield can be significantly reduced by the action of several insect pests including the sugarcane giant borer (Telchin licus licus), a lepidopteran that presents a long life cycle and which efforts to control it using pesticides have been inefficient. Although its economical relevance, only a few DNA sequences are available for this species in the GenBank. Pyrosequencing technology was used to investigate the transcriptome of several developmental stages of the insect. To maximize transcript diversity, a pool of total RNA was extracted from whole body insects and used to construct a normalized cDNA database. Sequencing produced over 650,000 reads, which were de novo assembled to generate a reference library of 23,824 contigs. After quality score and annotation, 43% of the contigs had at least one BLAST hit against the NCBI non-redundant database, and 40% showed similarities with the lepidopteran Bombyx mori. In a further analysis, we conducted a comparison with Manduca sexta midgut sequences to identify transcripts of genes involved in digestion. Of these transcripts, many presented an expansion or depletion in gene number, compared to B. mori genome. From the sugarcane giant borer (SGB) transcriptome, a number of aminopeptidase N (APN) cDNAs were characterized based on homology to those reported as Cry toxin receptors. This is the first report that provides a large-scale EST database for the species. Transcriptome analysis will certainly be useful to identify novel developmental genes, to better understand the insect's biology and to guide the development of new strategies for insect-pest control.
authors.affiliation: Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil; Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fernando Campos de Assis
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.affiliation: Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil; Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alexandre Augusto Pereira
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Firmino
authors.affiliation: Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil; Universidade Católica de Brasília, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Leonardo Lima Pepino
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: de Macedo
authors.affiliation: Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil; Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Roberta Ramos
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Coelho
authors.forename: José Dijair Antonino
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: de Souza Júnior
authors.affiliation: Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil; Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil.
authors.forename: José Dijair Antonino
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: de Sousa Júnior
authors.affiliation: Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil; Universidade Católica de Brasília, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Orzenil Bonfim
authors.initials: OB
authors.lastname: Silva-Junior
authors.affiliation: Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Roberto Coiti
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Togawa
authors.affiliation: Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Georgios Joannis
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Pappas
authors.affiliation: Usina triunfo, Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luiz Avelar Brandão
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: de Góis
authors.affiliation: Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Cristina Mattar
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.affiliation: Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil; Universidade Católica de Brasília, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Fátima
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Grossi-de-Sá
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D018826:CD13 Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D004063:Digestion / Q000235:genetics*; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags / Q000737:chemistry; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D015723:Gene Library; D063990:Gene Ontology; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D007915:Lepidoptera / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D008018:Life Cycle Stages / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D031786:Saccharum / Q000469:parasitology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D019476:Insect Proteins; D018826:CD13 Antigens