| Summary: | Trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TPS) plays an important role in the synthesis of trehalose. In the current study, a <i>TPS</i> gene was obtained from <i>Diaphorina citri</i>, and named as <i>DcTPS1</i> which encoded a protein of 833 amino acid residues. Real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis revealed that <i>DcTPS1</i> had the highest expression level in the midgut and fifth-instar nymph stage. Knockdown of <i>DcTPS1</i> by RNA interference (RNAi) induced an abnormal phenotype and increased mortality and malformation rate with a decreased molting rate. In addition, silencing of <i>DcTPS1</i> significantly inhibited <i>D. citri</i> chitin metabolism and fatty acid metabolism, while the expression levels of fatty acid decomposition-related genes were downregulated. Furthermore, comparative transcriptomics analysis revealed that 791 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were upregulated and 678 DEGs were downregulated when comparing ds<i>DcTPS1</i> groups with ds<i>GFP</i> groups. Bioinformatics analysis showed that upregulated DEGs were mainly involved in oxidative phosphorylation, whereas downregulated DEGs were mainly attributed to the lysosome and ribosome. These results indicated that <i>DcTPS1</i> played an important role in the growth and development of <i>D. citri</i>.
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