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ARS Home » Plains Area » Manhattan, Kansas » Center for Grain and Animal Health Research » Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #194356
Title: GENES ENCODING A GROUP OF RELATED SMALL SECRETED PROTEINS FROM THE GUT OF HESSIAN FLY LARVAE [MAYETIOLA DESTRUCTOR (SAY)]

Author
item Chen, Ming-Shun
item LIU, XIANG - KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY
item Zhu, Yu Cheng
item REESE, JOHN - KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY
item WILDE, GEREALD - KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Journal of Insect Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/10/2006
Publication Date: 7/1/2006
Citation: Chen, M., Liu, X., Zhu, Y., Reese, J.E., Wilde, G.E. 2006. Genes encoding a group of related small secreted proteins from the gut of hessian fly larvae [mayetiola destructor (say)]. Journal of Insect Science 13, 339-348.

Interpretive Summary: The Hessian fly (Mayetiola destructor) is one of the most destructive insects of wheat. The insect is currently controlled almost exclusively by host plant resistance. The challenge for the host plant resistance strategy is that resistance conferred by R-genes is short lived, lasting for about 6 to 8 years. Therefore, new strategies with durability should be explored. Insect gut is a target for many existing control measures and a target for developing new control strategies. This paper characterized a group of related genes that produce the most abundant transcripts in the gut of first instar Hessian fly larvae. Their abundance suggests that these proteins perform important function in the gut and this insect and therefore might be a useful target for developing new control measure in the future.

Technical Abstract: A group of related genes has been isolated and characterized from the gut of Hessian fly larvae [Mayetiola destructor (Say)]. Members in this group appear to encode proteins with secretary signal peptides at the N-terminals. The mature putative proteins are small, acidic proteins with calculated molecular masses that ranged from 14.5 to 15.3 kDa, and isoelectric points from 4.56 to 4.88. Northern blot analysis revealed that these genes are expressed predominantly in the gut of Hessian fly larvae and pupae. Two related genes, G10K1 and G10K2, were isolated as tandem repeats. Both genes contain three exons and two introns. The intron/exon boundaries were conserved in terms of amino acid encoding, suggesting that they were arisen by gene duplication. The fact that the frequency of this group of clones in a gut cDNA library higher than that of total cDNA clones encoding digestive enzymes suggested that this group of proteins may perform an important function in the gut physiology of this insect. However, the exact functions of these proteins are yet known since no sequence similarity could be identified between these proteins and any known sequences in public databases using standard methods.