Silencing Ditylenchus destructor cathepsin L-like cysteine protease has negative pleiotropic effect on nematode ontogenesis

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; pp. 10030 - 14
• Main Authors: Huang, Guoqiang, Cong, Ziwen, Liu, Zhonglin, Chen, Feng, Bravo, Alejandra, Soberón, Mario, Zheng, Jinshui, Peng, Donghai, Sun, Ming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.05.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/136; 631/326/417; Agricultural management; Agricultural production; Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Cathepsin L; Cathepsin L - genetics; Cathepsin L - metabolism; Cysteine; Cysteine Proteases - genetics; Cysteine Proteases - metabolism; Cysteine proteinase; Developmental stages; Digestive system; Ditylenchus destructor; Egg production; Embryogenesis; Embryonic growth stage; Evolutionary conservation; Female; Females; Gene expression; Gene Silencing; Helminth Proteins - genetics; Helminth Proteins - metabolism; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hybridization analysis; Morphogenesis; multidisciplinary; Nematodes; Pest control; Phenotypes; Phylogeny; Reproductive organs; RNA Interference; RNA-mediated interference; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Tylenchoidea - genetics; Tylenchoidea - physiology
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-60018-5

Ditylenchus destructor is a migratory plant-parasitic nematode that severely harms many agriculturally important crops. The control of this pest is difficult, thus efficient strategies for its management in agricultural production are urgently required. Cathepsin L-like cysteine protease (CPL) is one important protease that has been shown to participate in various physiological and pathological processes. Here we decided to characterize the CPL gene ( Dd-cpl-1 ) from D. destructor . Analysis of Dd-cpl-1 gene showed that Dd-cpl-1 gene contains a signal peptide, an I29 inhibitor domain with ERFNIN and GNFD motifs, and a peptidase C1 domain with four conserved active residues, showing evolutionary conservation with other nematode CPLs. RT-qPCR revealed that Dd-cpl-1 gene displayed high expression in third-stage juveniles (J3s) and female adults. In situ hybridization analysis demonstrated that Dd-cpl-1 was expressed in the digestive system and reproductive organs. Silencing Dd-cpl-1 in 1-cell stage eggs of D. destructor by RNAi resulted in a severely delay in development or even in abortive morphogenesis during embryogenesis. The RNAi-mediated silencing of Dd-cpl-1 in J2s and J3s resulted in a developmental arrest phenotype in J3 stage. In addition, silencing Dd-cpl-1 gene expression in female adults led to a 57.43% decrease in egg production. Finally, Dd-cpl-1 RNAi-treated nematodes showed a significant reduction in host colonization and infection. Overall, our results indicate that Dd-CPL-1 plays multiple roles in D. destructor ontogenesis and could serve as a new potential target for controlling D. destructor .