Organisms inhabiting highly seasonal environments must cope with a wide range of environmentally induced challenges. Many seasonal challenges require extensive physiological modification to survive. In winter, to survive extreme cold and limited resources, insects commonly enter diapause, which is an endogenously derived dormant state associated with minimized cellular processes and low energetic expenditure. Due to the high degree of complexity involved in diapause, substantial cellular regulation is required, of which our understanding primarily derives from the transcriptome via messenger RNA expression dynamics. Here we aim to advance our understanding of diapause by investigating microRNA (miRNA) expression in diapausing and direct developing pupae of the butterfly Pieris napi. We identified coordinated patterns of miRNA expression throughout diapause in both head and abdomen tissues of pupae, and via miRNA target identification, found several expression patterns to be enriched for relevant diapause‐related physiological processes. We also identified two candidate miRNAs, miR‐14‐5p and miR‐2a‐3p, that are likely involved in diapause progression through their activity in the ecdysone pathway, a critical regulator of diapause termination. miR‐14‐5p targets phantom, a gene in the ecdysone synthesis pathway, and is upregulated early in diapause. miR‐2a‐3p has been found to be expressed in response to ecdysone, and is upregulated during diapause termination. Together, the expression patterns of these two miRNAs match our current understanding of the timing of hormonal regulation of diapause in P. napi and provide interesting candidates to further explore the mechanistic role of microRNAs in diapause regulation.

中文翻译：

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通过滞育的时间过程分析揭示了与蝶粉蝶内分泌调节相关的 microRNA 的动态时间模式

居住在高度季节性环境中的生物必须应对各种环境引起的挑战。许多季节性挑战需要大量的生理改变才能生存。在冬季，为了在极端寒冷和有限的资源中生存，昆虫通常会进入滞育，这是一种内源性休眠状态，与最小化的细胞过程和低能量消耗有关。由于滞育涉及高度复杂性，因此需要大量的细胞调节，我们对此的理解主要来自通过信使 RNA 表达动力学的转录组。在这里，我们的目标是通过研究滞育和直接发育的蝴蝶蛹中的 microRNA (miRNA) 表达来增进我们对滞育的理解菜粉蝶。我们鉴定了蛹头部和腹部组织在整个滞育过程中 miRNA 表达的协调模式，并通过 miRNA 靶点识别，发现了几种与滞育相关的生理过程相关的表达模式。我们还鉴定了两个候选 miRNA，miR-14-5p 和 miR-2a-3p，它们可能通过其在滞育激素途径（滞育终止的关键调节因子）中的活性参与滞育进展。 miR-14-5p 靶标幻影是蜕皮激素合成途径中的一个基因，在滞育早期上调。已发现 miR-2a-3p 响应于蜕皮激素而表达，并在滞育终止期间上调。总之，这两种 miRNA 的表达模式符合我们目前对滞育激素调节时间的理解。纳皮虾并为进一步探索 microRNA 在滞育调节中的机制作用提供有趣的候选者。