Affiliation:
1. College of Plant Protection, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
2. Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biosafety and Green Production of Upper Yangtze River (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Abstract
It has long been disputed whether Tetranychus cinnabarinus and Tetranychus urticae belong to the same genus, with T. cinnabarinus regarded as a red form of T. urticae. However, it is unclear why T. urticae and T. cinnabarinus have different body colors. Since carotenoids are responsible for the color of many organisms, the carotenoid profiles of T. cinnabarinus and T. urticae were compared by HPLC. There was no difference in carotenoid type, but T. cinnabarinus contained significantly more neoxanthin, astaxanthin, α-carotene, β-carotene, and γ-carotene, which may contribute to the deep red color. The transcriptome sequencing of both species identified 4079 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), of which 12 were related to carotenoid metabolism. RNA interference (RNAi) experiments demonstrated that silencing seven of these DEGs resulted in the different accumulation of carotenoid compounds in T. cinnabarinus and T. urticae. In addition, the body of T. urticae turned yellow after two days of feeding with UGT double-stranded RNAs and β-UGT small interfering RNAs. In conclusion, differences in the carotenoid profiles of T. urticae and T. cinnabarinus may be responsible for the different body colors.
Funder
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities