Transcriptome of the pygmy grasshopper Formosatettix qinlingensis (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae)

Abstract

Formosatettix qinlingensis (Zheng, 1982) is a tiny grasshopper endemic to Qinling in China. For further study of its transcriptomic features, we obtained RNA-Seq data by Illumina HiSeq X Ten sequencing platform. Firstly, transcriptomic analysis showed that transcriptome read numbers of two female and one male samples were 25,043,314, 24,429,905, and 25,034,457, respectively. We assembled 65,977 unigenes, their average length was 1,072.09 bp, and the length of N50 was 2,031 bp. The average lengths of F. qinlingensis female and male unigenes were 911.30 bp, and 941.82 bp, and the N50 lengths were 1,745 bp and 1,735 bp, respectively. Eight databases were used to annotate the functions of unigenes, and 23,268 functional unigenes were obtained. Besides, we also studied the body color, immunity and insecticide resistance of F. qinlingensis. Thirty-nine pigment-related genes were annotated. Some immunity genes and signaling pathways were found, such as JAK-STAT and Toll-LIKE receptor signaling pathways. There are also some insecticide resistance genes and signal pathways, like nAChR, GST and DDT. Further, some of these genes were differentially expressed in female and male samples, including pigment, immunity and insecticide resistance. The transcriptomic study of F. qinlingensis will provide data reference for gene prediction and molecular expression study of other Tetrigidae species in the future. Differential genetic screening of males and females provides a basis for studying sex and immune balance in insects.