Abstract
The insect central nervous system (CNS) is the target for many insecticides, and changes in transcript levels could be expected after insecticide applications. In this study, differentially expressed genes in the locust (Locusta migratoria manilensis) CNS in response to imidacloprid treatments at low dose (LD, 10% mortality) and high dose (HD, 80% mortality) were identified. Two nicotine acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunits genes and 18 interacting protein genes were regulated at LD, and only one nAChR subunit gene and 11 interacting proteins were regulated at HD. Among the 110 annotated P450 unigenes, 43 unigenes were regulated at LD and 34 unigenes were regulated at HD. Most of the differentially expressed P450 unigenes were mapped to CYP4, in which most unigenes were upregulated at LD, but downregulated at HD. Totally, the numbers and regulation levels of the regulated genes were more at LD than that at HD. Seventeen unigenes were selected to test their expression changes following insecticide treatments by qRT-PCR, in which the changes in more than half of the selected genes were verified. The results revealed the variation in the response of locusts to different insecticide pressure, such as different doses.