Phenotypic plasticity in the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum: miRNA expression. Acyrthosiphon pisum

We developed high throughput Solexa sequencing and bioinformatic analyses of the genome of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum in order to identify the first miRNAs from a hemipteran insect. By combining these methods we identified 155 miRNAs including 56 conserved and 99 new miRNAs. Moreover, we investigated the regulation of these miRNAs in different alternative morphs of the pea aphid by analysing the expression of miRNAs across the switch of reproduction mode. Overall design: An array including the 155 aphid microRNAs was designed in order to follow the expression of aphid microRNAs during the modification of reproduction mode of the pea aphid

本研究针对豌豆蚜（Acyrthosiphon pisum）的基因组开展高通量Solexa测序与生物信息学分析，旨在从半翅目昆虫中鉴定出首批微RNA（microRNA，miRNA）。通过整合上述技术手段，本研究共鉴定出155个miRNA，其中包括56个保守miRNA与99个全新miRNA。此外，本研究通过分析豌豆蚜在生殖模式转换过程中的miRNA表达谱，探究了这些miRNA在豌豆蚜不同变型中的调控功能。实验设计总览：本研究设计了包含155种蚜虫miRNA的检测芯片，用于追踪豌豆蚜在生殖模式改变过程中的miRNA表达动态。