Chitin deacetylase 2 is essential for molting and survival of Tetranychus urticae

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pestbp.2021.104962Get rights and content

Highlights

  • TuCDA1 and TuCDA2 differ in expression profile during various developmental stages.

  • Feeding of dsRNA against TuCDA1 and TuCDA2 has lethal effects on the mites.

  • Aberrant cuticle structure may explain the lethal effects of TuCDA1 and TuCDA2 RNAi.

  • Chitin-modifying enzyme such as TuCDA2 is potential target of RNA interference.

Abstract

Chitin metabolism has long been considered promising targets for development of biorational pesticides. Considering the increasing challenges of controlling the twospotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, the roles of chitin deacetylases (CDAs) during molting process and mite development are explored. TuCDA1 and TuCDA2 differ in expression patterns during the development process. Feeding of double-strand RNA (dsRNA) against TuCDA1 or TuCDA2 has lethal effects on the mites. Especially TuCDA2 displays a much stronger phenotype than TuCDA1 (p = 0.0003). The treated mites fail to shed the old cuticle and are trapped within exuviate until they die. The aberrant cuticle structure observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) may be responsible for the lethal phenotype of TuCDA1 and TuCDA2 knocked down mites. However, treatment with both dsRNA-CDA1 and dsRNA-CDA2 cannot significantly enhance the lethal effects of dsRNA-CDA2, which indicates partially redundant function of TuCDA1 and TuCDA2. TuCDA2 may play a key role during the molting and development process. Chitin-modifying enzyme such as TuCDA2 is potential target of RNA interference through feeding.

Section snippets

Mites

The population of an insecticide-susceptible strain of T. urticae (red form) is raised at 26 °C, 45% relative humidity, and with a of 16:8 h (light: dark) photoperiod on cowpea leaves at Key Laboratory of Northern Urban Agriculture of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, under pesticide-free conditions for over 10 years. These mites are assayed each year for high sensitivity to pesticides using the glass slide-dipping method according to FAO standards (Bu et al., 2015a).

Sequence analysis of TuCDA1 and TuCDA2

Sequences of TuCDA1

Sequence analysis of TuCDA1 and TuCDA2

The exon-intron organization of TuCDA1 and TuCDA2 was determined by comparing the TuCDA1 and TuCDA2 sequences with the T. urticae genomic sequences (Fig. 1A). In the T. urticae genome, TuCDA1 was located in scaffold 11, whereas TuCDA2 was located in scaffold 5. TuCDA1 and TuCDA2 both had four exons, however their exon-intron organization were somewhat diverse.

TuCDA1 and TuCDA2 had quite different amino acid sequences with only 76.5% identity. Similar to the insect orthologues, TuCDA1 and TuCDA2

Discussion

Here, the roles of TuCDA1 and TuCDA2 of T. urticae during molting process and mite development were explored. TuCDA1 and TuCDA2 differ in exon-intron organization and amino acid sequence, although TuCDA1 and TuCDA2 have similar domain organization, hydropathy profiles (Xiangshun et al., 2019). Seven crystal structures of CDAs, including one from insects, six from fungi and bacteria, have been determined (Blair et al., 2006; Blair et al., 2005; Blair and Van Aalten, 2004; Liu et al., 2019).

Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (no. 6212004), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 31670648). We thank all members of Key Laboratory of Northern Urban Agriculture of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, for their advice, assistance, and technical help.

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