title: Transcriptome based identification and tissue expression profiles of chemosensory genes in Blattella germanica (Blattaria: Blattidae).
abstract: Blattalla germanica is one of the most notorious household insect pests, and evolutionally more primitive than those well studied moths and flies, regarding the molecular mechanisms of chemosensation. In this study, we sequenced, for the first time, the antennal transcriptome of B. germanica using the Illumina HiSeq™ 2000 platform and then conducted the bioinformatic analysis of the data. In total, we identified 73 putative chemosensory genes, with 62 genes being novel in this species. These chemosensory genes included 48 odorant binding proteins (OBPs), 9 chemosensory proteins (CSPs), 6 sensory neuron membrane proteins (SNMPs), 5 odorant receptors (ORs) and 5 ionotropic receptors (IRs). Notably, Plus-C OBPs account for an exceptionally high proportion (39.58%) of the total 48 OBPs in this primitive insect. To predict the chemosensory functions of the genes, a detailed global tissue expression profiling was investigated by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Most OBP genes showed a chemosensory tissue biased profile, while CSP transcripts were widely and evenly expressed in different tissues. Furthermore, we found that more than half the chemosensory genes were expressed in the cerci, implying the important chemosensory functions of the organ in B. germanica. Taken together, our study provides important bases for elucidation of the molecular mechanisms and evolution of insect chemosensation, and for development of the chemosensation based techniques to control B. germanica.
authors.affiliation: College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University/ Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Crop Diseases and Pests (Nanjing Agricultural University), Ministry of Education, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Dong-Juan
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University/ Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Crop Diseases and Pests (Nanjing Agricultural University), Ministry of Education, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University/ Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Crop Diseases and Pests (Nanjing Agricultural University), Ministry of Education, Nanjing 210095, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Tong
authors.initials: XT
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agricultural University/ Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Crop Diseases and Pests (Nanjing Agricultural University), Ministry of Education, Nanjing 210095, China. Electronic address: sldong@njau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shuang-Lin
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Dong
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003058:Cockroaches / Q000235:genetics*; D019295:Computational Biology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D009928:Organ Specificity; D010802:Phylogeny; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018035:Receptors, Odorant / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D019476:Insect Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018035:Receptors, Odorant
keywords: C-pattern; Cercus; Chemosensory protein; Odorant binding protein; Odorant receptor; The German cockroach