RNA-seq of Hycleus Phaleratus

Hycleus cichorii and Hycleus Phaleratus are important blister beetles in Traditional Chinese Medicine due to their ability to biosynthesize cantharidin, which has been used for cancer therapy recently. Both blister beetles have shared the highly similar environments and ecological niches. However, the population of H. Phaleratus drastically reduced even or become extinct in recent year comparison to H. cichorii. To understand the different adaptability, we comparative analysis the six chemosensory genes families of both species used a transcriptome.

绿斑芫菁（Hycleus cichorii）与菲氏斑芫菁（Hycleus Phaleratus）是中医药（Traditional Chinese Medicine）领域重要的斑芫菁类昆虫，二者均可生物合成斑蝥素（cantharidin），该成分近年来已被应用于癌症治疗。二者栖息环境与生态位高度相似，但相较于绿斑芫菁，菲氏斑芫菁的种群数量在近年大幅缩减，甚至濒临灭绝或彻底消亡。为探究二者的适应性差异，本研究基于转录组（transcriptome）数据，对两个物种的6个化学感受基因家族开展了比较分析。