microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) that trigger RNA interference (RNAi) in eukaryotic organisms. The biogenesis pathways for these ncRNAs are well established in Drosophila melanogaster, Aedes aegypti, Bombyx mori and other insects, but lacking in hymenopteran species, particularly in parasitoid wasps. Pteromalus puparum is a parasitoid of pupal butterflies. This study identified and analyzed two pathways by interrogating the P. puparum genome. All core genes of the two pathways are present in the genome as a single copy, except for two genes in the siRNA pathway, R2D2 (two copies) and Argonaute-2 (three). Conserved domain analyses showed the protein structures in P. puparum were similar to cognate proteins in other insect species. Phylogenetic analyses of hymenopteran Dicer and Argonaute genes suggested that the siRNA pathway-related genes evolved faster than those in the miRNA pathway. The study found a decelerated evolution rate of P. puparum Dicer-2 with respect to Dicer-1, which was contrary to other hymenopterans. Expression analyses revealed high mRNA levels for all miRNA pathway genes in P. puparum adults and the siRNA related genes were expressed in different patterns. The findings add valuable new knowledge of the miRNA and siRNA pathways and their regulatory actions in parasitoid wasps.

XIAO Shan;FANG Qi;LIU Ming-ming;ZHANG Jiao;WANG Bei-bei;YAN Zhi-chao;WANG Fang;David W.STANLEY;YE Gong-yin

State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology/Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects,Institute of Insect Sciences,Zhejiang University,Hangzhou 310058,P.R.China;Biological Control of Insects Research Laboratory,USDA Agricultural Research Service,Columbia,Missouri 65203,USA

农业科学学报（英文）

[1]XIAO Shan;FANG Qi;LIU Ming-ming;ZHANG Jiao;WANG Bei-bei;YAN Zhi-chao;WANG Fang;David W.STANLEY;YE Gong-yin-.Genome-wide characterization of miRNA and siRNA pathways in the parasitoid wasp Pteromalus puparum)[J].农业科学学报（英文）,2022(04):1106-1115

parasitoid,wasp,Pteromalus,puparum,hymenopteran,wasps,interrogating,hymenopterans

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