Comparative Transcriptomic Analysis of Head in Laodelphax striatellus upon Rice Stripe Virus Infection

Rice stripe virus (RSV) is transmitted by the small brown planthopper (SBPH), Laodelphax striatellus, in a circulative-propagative manner. Multiple studies have proved that RSV can manipulate vector insects to facilitate its transmission and can alter the gene expressions in viruliferous SBPH. However, to the best of our knowledge, nobody has investigated the gene expressions in the head of SBPH after RSV acquisition. In this study, to investigate the genes and gene functions regulated by RSV infection in the head of SBPH, we used RNA sequencing to compare the transcriptional profiles between SBPH head samples that acquired RSV or not. Compared with the non-viruliferous SBPH, a total of 336 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the head samples of viruliferous SBPH groups, including 186 up-regulated and 150 down-regulated genes. Here, we focused on DEGs that may be involved in RSV replication or transmission, primarily genes associated with the nervous system, cytochrome P450s, sugar metabolism, the olfactory system, and cuticular process, as well as genes that have been previously reported to affect virus transmission in insect vectors including ubiquitin-protein ligase (E3), ecdysone response gene (E74A), and vitellogenin receptor (VgR). Finally, we verified the accuracy of the transcriptome sequencing results using qRT-PCR by selecting 16 DEGs. Our results can contribute to the understanding of the effects of RSV infection on gene regulation in the head of SBPH and provide insight into the control of plant virus transmission and insect vectors.