Comparisons of Transcriptional Profiles of Gut Genes between Cry1Ab-Resistant and Susceptible Strains of Ostrinia nubilalis Revealed Genes Possibly Related to the Adaptation of Resistant Larvae to Transgenic Cry1Ab Corn.
A microarray developed on the basis of 2895 unique transcripts from larval gut was used to compare gut gene expression profiles between a laboratory-selected Cry1Ab-resistant (R) strain and its isoline susceptible (S) strain of the European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis) after the larvae were fed the leaves of transgenic corn (MON810) expressing Cry1Ab or its non-transgenic isoline for 6 h. We revealed 398 gut genes differentially expressed (i.e., either up- or down-regulated genes with expression ratio ≥2.0) in S-strain, but only 264 gut genes differentially expressed in R-strain after being fed transgenic corn leaves. Although the percentages of down-regulated genes among the total number of differentially expressed genes (50% in S-strain and 45% in R-strain) were similar between the R- and S-strains, the expression ratios of down-regulated genes were much higher in S-strain than in R-strain. We revealed that 17 and 9 significantly up- or down-regulated gut genes from S and R-strain, respectively, including serine proteases and aminopeptidases. These genes may be associated with Cry1Ab toxicity by degradation, binding, and cellular defense. Overall, our study suggests enhanced adaptation of Cry1Ab-resistant larvae on transgenic Cry1Ab corn as revealed by lower number and lower ratios of differentially expressed genes in R-strain than in S-strain of O. nubilalis.
Department of Entomology, 123 Waters Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA. yc.zhu@ars.usda.gov.|Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, 141 Experiment Station Rd, Stoneville, MS 38776, USA. yc.zhu@ars.usda.gov.
Jianxiu
J
Yao
Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, 141 Experiment Station Rd, Stoneville, MS 38776, USA. yc.zhu@ars.usda.gov.
Yu-Cheng
YC
Zhu
Bioinformatics Center, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA. nanyan@ksu.edu.
Nanyan
N
Lu
Department of Entomology, 123 Waters Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA. lbuschma@ksu.edu.|Burland Drive, Bailey, CO 80421, USA. lbuschma@ksu.edu.
Lawrent L
LL
Buschman
Department of Entomology, 123 Waters Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA. kzhu@ksu.edu.
Kun Yan
KY
Zhu
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D000083722:Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D060467:Disease Resistance; D004731:Endotoxins / Q000235:genetics*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D007814:Larva / Q000235:genetics*; D009036:Moths / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology; D018515:Plant Leaves; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D059467:Transcriptome; D003313:Zea mays / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000469:parasitology*
D000083722:Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004731:Endotoxins; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; C030956:insecticidal crystal protein, Bacillus Thuringiensis
Bacillus thuringiensis; Cry1Ab; European corn borer; Ostrinia nubilalis; gene expression; microarray; transgenic corn