The multifunctional insect cuticle serves as the exoskeleton, determines body shape, restricts water loss, provides attachment sites for muscles and internal organs and is a formidable barrier to invaders. It is morphologically divided into three layers, including envelope, epicuticle, and procuticle and is composed of chitin and cuticular proteins (CPs). Annotation of CPs and their cognate genes may help understand the structure and functions of insect cuticles. In this paper, we interrogated the genome of Pteromalus puparum, an endoparasitoid wasp that parasitizes Pieris rapae and Papilio xuthus pupae, and identified 82 genes encoding CPs belonging to six CP families, including 62 in the CPR family, 8 in CPAP3, 5 in CPF/CPFL, 2 low complexity proteins, 2 in TWDL, and 3 in Apidermin. We used six RNA‐seq libraries to determine CP gene expression profiles through development and compared the cuticle hydrophobicity between the P. puparum and the ectoparasitoid Nasonia vitripennis based on GRAVY values of CPR sequences. In the Nasonia‐Pteromalus comparison, we found in both N. vitripennis and P. puparum, the peak of their CPR hydrophobicity displayed at their pupal stage, whereas their adult stage showed the lowest level. Except at the adult stage, the CPR hydrophobicity in N. vitripennis is always higher than P. puparum. Finally, we identified three novel Apidermin genes, a family found solely in Hymenoptera and revealed a new sequence feature of this family. This new information contributes to a broader understanding of insect CPs generally.

中文翻译：

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全基因组范围内鉴定和分析内寄生性黄蜂Pteromalus puparum（膜翅目：翼手龙）中表皮蛋白编码基因。

多功能昆虫角质层可充当外骨骼，确定身体形状，限制水分流失，为肌肉和内部器官提供附着点，并且是入侵者的强大屏障。它在形态上分为三层，包括包膜，表皮和原皮，由几丁质和表皮蛋白（CP）组成。CP及其相关基因的注释可能有助于了解昆虫表皮的结构和功能。在本文中，我们询问了Pteromalus puparum的基因组，Pteromalus puparum是寄生于菜青虫和Papilio xuthus的内寄生蜂and，鉴定出82个编码属于六个CP家族的CP的基因，包括CPR家族的62个，CPAP3的8个，CPF / CPFL的5个，低复杂性蛋白的2个，TWDL的2个和Apidermin的3个。我们使用了六个RNA-SEQ库通过发展来确定CP基因的表达谱和比较之间的角质层疏水性P.蛹金小蜂和ectoparasitoid金小蜂vitripennis基于CPR序列GRAVY值。在Nasonia-Pteromalus的比较中，我们发现在N. vitripennis和P. puparum中，它们的CPR疏水性峰值出现在p期，而成年阶段则最低。除成年阶段外，玻璃曲霉中的CPR疏水性总是比产腐霉菌高。最后，我们鉴定了三个新的Apidermin基因，一个仅在膜翅目中发现的家族，并揭示了该家族的新序列特征。这些新信息有助于总体上更广泛地了解昆虫CP。