Photoperiod is one of the most important maternal factors with an impact on the offspring diapause induction of Locusta migratoria. Previous studies have shown that forkhead box protein O (FOXO) plays an important role in regulating insect diapause, but how photoperiod stimulates maternal migratory locusts to regulate the next generation of egg diapause through the FOXO signaling pathway still needs to be addressed. In this study, the transcriptomes of ovaries and fat bodies of adult locusts under a long and short photoperiod were obtained. Among the total of 137 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in both ovaries and fat bodies, 71 DEGs involved in FOXO signaling pathways might be closely related to diapause induction. 24 key DEGs were selected and their expression profiles were confirmed to be consistent with the transcriptome results using qRT-PCR. RNA interference was then performed to verify the function of retinoic acid induced protein gene (rai1) and foxo. Egg diapause rates were significantly increased by RNAi maternal locusts rai1 gene under short photoperiods. However, the egg diapause rates were significantly decreased by knock down of the foxo gene in the maternal locusts under a short photoperiod. In addition, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were promoted by RNAi rai1. We identified the candidate genes related to the FOXO pathway, and verified the diapause regulation function of rai1 and foxo under a short photoperiod only. In the future, the researchers can work in the area to explore other factors and genes that can promote diapause induction under a long photoperiod.
Keywords: FOXO pathway; RNAi; maternal effect; photoperiodic diapause; rai1.