Comprehensive transcriptome analysis of early male and female Bactrocera jarvisi embryos

BMC Genetics

Research

A Stuart Gilchrist¹  Deborah CA Shearman¹  Marianne Frommer¹  Markus Riegler²  Jennifer L Morrow² 

[1] Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, 2052, Sydney, NSW, Australia;Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, 2751, Penrith, NSW, Australia;

关键词: tephritid fruit flies;    Bactrocera jarvisi;    RNA-Seq;    differential expression;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2156-15-S2-S7

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDeveloping embryos are provided with maternal RNA transcripts and proteins, but transcription from the zygotic nuclei must be activated to control continuing embryonic development. Transcripts are generated at different stages of early development, and those involved in sex determination and cellularisation are some of the earliest to be activated. The male sex in tephritid fruit flies is determined by the presence of a Y chromosome, and it is believed that a transcript from the Y-chromosome sets in motion a cascade that determines male development, as part of the greater maternal to zygotic transition (MTZ). Here we investigate the poly(A+) transcriptome in early male and female embryos of the horticultural pest Bactrocera jarvisi (Diptera: Tephritidae).ResultsBactrocera jarvisi embryos were collected over two pre-blastoderm time periods, 2-3h and 3-5h after egg laying. Embryos were individually sexed using a Y-chromosome marker, allowing the sex-specific poly(A+) transcriptome of single-sex embryo pools to be deep-sequenced and assembled de novo. Transcripts for sixteen sex-determination and two cellularisation gene homologues of Drosophila melanogaster (Diptera: Drosophilidae) were identified in early embryos of B. jarvisi, including transcripts highly upregulated prior to cellularisation. No strong candidates for transcripts derived solely from the Y chromosome were recovered from the poly(A+) fraction.ConclusionsBactrocera jarvisi provides an excellent model for embryonic studies due to available Y-chromosome markers and the compact time frame for zygotic transcription and the sex-determined state. Our data contribute fundamental information to sex-determination research, and provide candidates for the sourcing of gene promoters for transgenic pest-management strategies of tephritid fruit flies.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Morrow et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014