title: Transcriptomic Analysis of Musca domestica to Reveal Key Genes of the Prophenoloxidase-Activating System.
abstract: The proPO system regulates melanization in arthropods. However, the genes that are involved in the proPO system in housefly Musca domestica remain unclear. Thus, this study analyzed the combined transcriptome obtained from M. domestica larvae, pupae, and adults that were either normal or bacteria-challenged by an Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus mixture. A total of 54,821,138 clean reads (4.93 Gb) were yielded by Illumina sequencing, which were de novo assembled into 89,842 unigenes. Of the 89,842 unigenes, based on a similarity search with known genes in other insects, 24 putative genes related to the proPO system were identified. Eight of the identified genes encoded for peptidoglycan recognition receptors, two encoded for prophenoloxidases, three encoded for prophenoloxidase-activating enzymes, and 11 encoded for serine proteinase inhibitors. The expression levels of these identified genes were investigated by qRT-PCR assay, which were consistent with expected activation process of the proPO system, and their activation functions were confirmed by the measurement of phenoloxidase activity in bacteria-infected larvae after proPO antibody blockage, suggesting these candidate genes might have potentially different roles in the activation of proPO system. Collectively, this study has provided the comprehensive transcriptomic data of an insect and some fundamental basis toward achieving understanding of the activation mechanisms and immune functions of the proPO system in M. domestica.
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Department, The School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Jinan, Jinan 250022, People's Republic of China chm_lidx@ujn.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Dianxiang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan 250002, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yongli
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xianwei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan 250002, People's Republic of China School of Medicine and Life Science, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, University of Jinan, Jinan 250022, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Department, The School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Jinan, Jinan 250022, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Department, The School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Jinan, Jinan 250022, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Department, The School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Jinan, Jinan 250022, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019295:Computational Biology; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D017344:Genes, Insect; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006793:Houseflies / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D010802:Phylogeny; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; C022435:prephenoloxidase-activating enzyme
keywords: Musca domestica; gene identification; genetics of immunity; prophenoloxidase-activating system; transcriptomic analysis