Patterns of Gene Expression in Western Corn Rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera) Neonates, Challenged with Cry34Ab1, Cry35Ab1 and Cry34/35Ab1, Based on Next-Generation Sequencing
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Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0915, USA
2
Center for Biotechnology, School of Biological Sciences, UNL, Lincoln, NE 68583, USA
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Dow AgroSciences, Indianapolis, IN 46268, USA
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Monsanto, St. Louis, MO 63167, USA
5
Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-0620, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Juan Ferré and Baltasar Escriche
Toxins 2017, 9(4), 124; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins9040124
Received: 26 February 2017 / Revised: 22 March 2017 / Accepted: 27 March 2017 / Published: 30 March 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Insecticidal Bacterial Toxins in Modern Agriculture)
Abstract
With Next Generation Sequencing technologies, high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNAseq) was conducted to examine gene expression in neonates of Diabrotica virgifera virgifera (LeConte) (Western Corn Rootworm, WCR) challenged with individual proteins of the binary Bacillus thuringiensis insecticidal proteins, Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1, and the combination of Cry34/Cry35Ab1, which together are active against rootworm larvae. Integrated results of three different statistical comparisons identified 114 and 1300 differentially expressed transcripts (DETs) in the Cry34Ab1 and Cry34/35Ab1 treatment, respectively, as compared to the control. No DETs were identified in the Cry35Ab1 treatment. Putative Bt binding receptors previously identified in other insect species were not identified in DETs in this study. The majority of DETs (75% with Cry34Ab1 and 68.3% with Cry34/35Ab1 treatments) had no significant hits in the NCBI nr database. In addition, 92 DETs were shared between Cry34Ab1 and Cry34/35Ab1 treatments. Further analysis revealed that the most abundant DETs in both Cry34Ab1 and Cry34/35Ab1 treatments were associated with binding and catalytic activity. Results from this study confirmed the nature of these binary toxins against WCR larvae and provide a fundamental profile of expression pattern of genes in response to challenge of the Cry34/35Ab1 toxin, which may provide insight into potential resistance mechanisms. View Full-TextKeywords:
Next Generation Sequencing (NGS); Diabrotica virgifera virgifera; Bt challenge; differential gene expression
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MDPI and ACS Style
Wang, H.; Eyun, S.-I.; Arora, K.; Tan, S.Y.; Gandra, P.; Moriyama, E.; Khajuria, C.; Jurzenski, J.; Li, H.; Donahue, M.; Narva, K.; Siegfried, B. Patterns of Gene Expression in Western Corn Rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera) Neonates, Challenged with Cry34Ab1, Cry35Ab1 and Cry34/35Ab1, Based on Next-Generation Sequencing. Toxins 2017, 9, 124.
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