The geomagnetic field (GMF) is an environmental cue that provides directional information for animals. The intensity of GMF is varied over space and time. Variations in the GMF intensity affect the navigation of animals and their physiology. In this study, the phototaxis of the migratory insect rice planthopper Nilaparvata lugens (N. lugens) and frataxin in N. lugens (Nl‐fh), which is a mitochondrial protein required for cellular iron homeostasis and iron‐sulfur cluster assembly, were investigated by using different intensities of magnetic field. From the results, individuals of N. lugens showed decreased phototaxis when reared and tested in a behavioral arena under a strong magnetic field. Besides the reduction in performance, an accompanying effect of the strong magnetic field condition was a reduced level of Nl‐fh‐messenger RNA, and a Nl‐fh knockdown indeed impaired the phototactic behavior in a tested sample of insects. This leads to the conclusion that the expression of frataxin is dependent on the strength of the surrounding magnetic field and that functional frataxin facilitates phototactic behavior in N. lugens.

中文翻译：

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地磁场的增强降低了与 frataxin 下调相关的水稻褐飞虱 Nilaparvata lugens 的趋光性

地磁场 (GMF) 是一种环境线索，可为动物提供方向信息。GMF 的强度随空间和时间而变化。GMF 强度的变化会影响动物的航行及其生理机能。在这项研究中，研究了迁徙昆虫稻飞虱 Nilaparvata lugens (N. lugens) 和 N. lugens (Nl-fh) 中的 frataxin 的趋光性，Nl-fh 是细胞铁稳态和铁硫簇组装所需的线粒体蛋白通过使用不同强度的磁场。结果表明，在强磁场下的行为舞台上饲养和测试时，褐飞虱个体表现出趋光性降低。除了性能下降外，强磁场条件的伴随效应是 Nl-fh-信使 RNA 水平降低，在测试的昆虫样本中，Nl-fh 敲低确实损害了趋光行为。这得出的结论是 frataxin 的表达取决于周围磁场的强度，并且功能性 frataxin 有利于 N. lugens 的趋光行为。