2019 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Elucidation of insect-bacteria symbiosis at the molecular level
| Project/Area Number |
19J11493
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| Research Institution | Hokkaido University |
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Principal Investigator |
JANG Seonghan 北海道大学, 農学院, 特別研究員(DC2)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-25 – 2021-03-31
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| Keywords | symbiosis / symbiont / Duox / Dual oxidase / Insect / Burkholderia |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In this fiscal year, I tried to find critical genes to shape symbiosis between host insect Riptortus pedestris and its gut symbiont Burkholderia insecticola. I found one critical gene called "Duox" which encodes enzymes generating reactive oxygen species (ROS). This enzyme is well-studied in insect gut immunity originally due to a microbicidal activity of ROS, but I identified the novel role of this enzyme. Different with other insects, duox was expressed highly in the bean bug's trachea (respiratory system), and duox stabilized tracheal network by forming dityrosine network of the tracheal matrix protein. Upon duox-RNAi, tracheal network was collapsed result in a collapse of the symbiotic association. This novel finding will greatly contribute to understanding insect-bacteria symbiosis.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned.
Reason
One of this year's big research goals was to find out the mechanism of how host insect Riptortus Pedestris and its Burkholderia gut symbiont maintain the successful symbiosis without harming each other. When I found the critical enzyme to maintain symbiosis named "Duox", I did not expect this enzyme is deeply related to stabilizing insect respiratory network. Since the discovery of novel function is difficult and valuable to understand the molecular mechanism of symbiosis in my field, I think I did a good job than my original expectation.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
During the last year, I screened many genes by RNAi technique to find vital symbiosis factor from both host- and symbiont-side. At that time, I found several interesting genes related to the development of the symbiotic organ. Some of them are known as important genes in other insects for another function (not important to the development of gut development), so my finding will be very novel that can regulate the symbiotic association. I will focus on research about these genes to find a new function which will be important to maintain the symbiotic association
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