Transcriptome analysis reveals the resistance mechanism to the scale
insects on Camellia japonica
Abstract
Camellia japonica is a famous ornamental plant, which has been
seriously infested with the scale insects in recent years. The camellia
plants with resistance and susceptibility to the scale insects were
found in our previous research, and there were significant differences
in genotype, leaf structure, lignin content, malondialdehyde (MDA)
content, and antioxidant enzyme activity. The scale insects were
identified as Pseudaulacaspis cockerelli by the method of
morphological identification. The pentose and glutathione metabolism
pathway, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway, ascorbate, and aldarate
metabolism pathway, and glutathione metabolism pathway were the main
metabolic pathways which were the most significantly enriched for
differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in RNA-Seq. Transcription factors
such as MYBS3, ERF27, bHLH17, bZIP17,
NAC90, and WRKY40 played active roles to the scale
insects. The expression of the PME and PG gene were
up-regulated and overexpression of CjPME28 or CjPG1 in
tobacco plants significantly improved resistance to the scale insects
and affected them to grow, which demonstrated their roles of resistance
to the scale insects in the camellia plants. Collectively, in this
study, a camellia resource with resistance to the scale insects was
screened, and the mechanism of insect resistance of camellia plants was
revealed which provided evidence for the identification of new varieties
and also provided a new perspective for the in-depth study of the
mechanism of insect resistance of ornamental plants.