AUTHOR=Chen Yueyin , Yang Bo , Li Zhaoyang , Yue Yang , Tian Qingheng , Chen Weiyi , Ali Shaukat , Wu Jianhui 

TITLE=Immune-Related Genes of Megalurothrips usitatus (Bagrall) Against Beauveria brongniartii and Akanthomyces attenuatus Identified Using RNA Sequencing

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physiology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2021.671599

DOI=10.3389/fphys.2021.671599

ISSN=1664-042X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Megalurothrips usitatus</italic> (Bagrall) is an important pest of legumes worldwide, causing great economic loss every year. <italic>Beauveria brongniartii</italic> and <italic>Akanthomyces attenuatus</italic> have shown considerable pathogenicity against <italic>M. usitatus</italic> in our previous studies. The medial lethal concentration (LC<sub>50</sub>) and the sublethal lethal concentration (LC<sub>25</sub>) of <italic>B. brongniartii</italic> isolate SB010 against <italic>M. usitatus</italic> were 8.38 × 10<sup>5</sup> and 1.73 × 10<sup>5</sup> conidia mL<sup>−1</sup>, respectively, whereas those of <italic>A. attenuatus</italic> isolate SCAUDCL-53 against <italic>M. usitatus</italic> were 4.37 × 10<sup>5</sup> and 2.97 × 10<sup>4</sup> conidia mL<sup>−1</sup>, respectively. This study reports the transcriptome-based explanation of the stress responses of <italic>M. usitatus</italic> following the application of <italic>B</italic>. <italic>brongniartii</italic> and <italic>A. attenuatus</italic>. The analysis of the transcriptomic data revealed the expression of 254, 207, 195, and 234 immunity-related unigenes by <italic>M. usitatus</italic> in response to <italic>B</italic>. <italic>brongniartii</italic> LC<sub>50</sub> (SB1), <italic>B</italic>. <italic>brongniartii</italic> LC<sub>25</sub> (SB2), <italic>A. attenuatus</italic> LC<sub>50</sub> (V1), and <italic>A. attenuatus</italic> LC<sub>25</sub> (V2), respectively. The biological function and metabolic pathway analyses showed that these unigenes were mainly related to pattern recognition receptors, information transduction factors, and reaction factors, such as scavenger receptor, cytochrome b5, cuticle protein, lysozyme, and serine protease.</p>