Abstract
Sexual dimorphism and wing polyphenism are important and evolutionarily conserved features of many insect species. In this article, we found a cross-talk linking sexual differentiation with wing polyphenism in the brown planthopper (BPH) Nilaparvata lugens (order: Hemiptera). Knockdown of the sex determination gene Transformer-2 in N. lugens (NlTra-2) in nymph caused females to develop into infertile pseudomales containing undeveloped ovaries. Whereas males treated with dsNlTra-2 exhibited normal morphology, but lost fertility. Knockdown of NlTra-2 in adult females (maternal RNAi) resulted in long-winged female offspring, indicating that maternal RNAi changed the wing morphs in female offspring. In addition, silencing of NlTra-2 down-regulated the expression of the forkhead transcription factor FoxO (NlFoxO), and simultaneously up-regulated the expression of phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase (PI(3)K)-protein kinase B (NlAkt), the two critical genes in the insulin signaling pathway. Furthermore, the long-winged effect caused by maternal dsNlTra-2 RNAi could be reversed by silencing of NlInR1 and NlAkt, leading to short-winged morphs. We propose that there is a cross-talk between the sexual differentiation and wing polyphenism pathways mediated by NlTra-2 during embryonic stages.