Host miRNAs are involved in hormonal regulation of HaSNPV-triggered climbing behaviour in Helicoverpa armigera

Songdou Zhang, Shiheng An, Kelli Hoover, Zhen Li, Xiangrui Li, Xiaoming Liu, Zhongjian Shen, Haibo Fang, Vera I.D. Ros, Qingwen Zhang, Xiaoxia Liu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

36 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Baculoviruses manipulate host climbing behaviour to ensure that the hosts die at elevated positions on host plants to facilitate virus proliferation and transmission, which is a process referred to as tree-top disease. However, the detailed molecular mechanism underlying tree-top disease has not been elucidated. Using transcriptome analysis, we showed that two hormone signals, juvenile hormone (JH) and 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), are key components involved in HaSNPV-induced tree-top disease in Helicoverpa armigera larvae. RNAi-mediated knockdown and exogenous hormone treatment assays demonstrated that 20E inhibits virus-induced tree-top disease, while JH mediates tree-top disease behaviour. Knockdown of BrZ2, a downstream signal of JH and 20E, promoted HaSNPV-induced tree-top disease. We also found that two miRNAs target BrZ2 and are involved in the cross-talk regulation between 20E and JH manipulating HaSNPV replication, time to death and HaSNPV-induced tree-top disease.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)459-475
JournalMolecular Ecology
Volume27
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2018

Keywords

  • Helicoverpa armigera
  • 20-hydroxyecdysone
  • Baculovirus
  • Climbing behaviour
  • Juvenile hormone
  • MiRNAs

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