Most living organisms developed the innate clock system to anticipate daily environmental changes and to enhance their chances of survival. timeless (tim) is a canonical clock gene. It has been extensively studied in Drosophila melanogaster (Diptera: Drosophilidae) as a key component of the endogenous circadian clock, but its role is largely unknown in some agriculture pests. Laodelphax striatellus (Fallén) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae), an important rice pest, exhibits a robust locomotor rhythm. In the present study, we cloned tim gene (ls-tim) from L. striatellus and investigated its function in the regulation of behavioral rhythms. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction revealed a circadian expression pattern of ls-tim under different light conditions with a trough in the photophase and a peak in the late scotophase. After the knockdown of ls-tim via RNA interference (RNAi), the adults showed an earlier onset of locomotor activity under light/dark cycles and became arrhythmic in constant darkness. ls-tim RNAi also abolished the timing of adult emergence that normally occurs in the early photophase. These results suggest that ls-tim is essential for the light-entrained circadian rhythms in L. striatellus and provide more insights into the endogenous clock network underlying the behavioral and physiological rhythms of this insect.
How to translate text using browser tools
27 July 2018
Knockdown of timeless Disrupts the Circadian Behavioral Rhythms in Laodelphax striatellus (Hemiptera: Delphacidae)
Yan-Dong Jiang,
Xin Yuan,
Yue-Liang Bai,
Gui-Yao Wang,
Wen-Wu Zhou,
Zeng-Rong Zhu
ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE
It is not available for individual sale.
This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
It is not available for individual sale.
![](/ContentImages/journals/enve/47/5/5/WebImages/169.047.0500.cover.jpg)
Environmental Entomology
Vol. 47 • No. 5
October 2018
Vol. 47 • No. 5
October 2018
adult emergence
circadian clock
locomotor activity
RNA interference
timeless