miR-275/305 cluster is essential for maintaining energy metabolic homeostasis by the insulin signaling pathway in Bactrocera dorsalis

PLoS Genet. 2022 Oct 5;18(10):e1010418. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010418. eCollection 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Increasing evidence indicates that miRNAs play crucial regulatory roles in various physiological processes of insects, including systemic metabolism. However, the molecular mechanisms of how specific miRNAs regulate energy metabolic homeostasis remain largely unknown. In the present study, we found that an evolutionarily conserved miR-275/305 cluster was essential for maintaining energy metabolic homeostasis in response to dietary yeast stimulation in Bactrocera dorsalis. Depletion of miR-275 and miR-305 by the CRISPR/Cas9 system significantly reduced triglyceride and glycogen contents, elevated total sugar levels, and impaired flight capacity. Combined in vivo and in vitro experiments, we demonstrated that miR-275 and miR-305 can bind to the 3'UTR regions of SLC2A1 and GLIS2 to repress their expression, respectively. RNAi-mediated knockdown of these two genes partially rescued metabolic phenotypes caused by inhibiting miR-275 and miR-305. Furthermore, we further illustrated that the miR-275/305 cluster acting as a regulator of the metabolic axis was controlled by the insulin signaling pathway. In conclusion, our work combined genetic and physiological approaches to clarify the molecular mechanism of metabolic homeostasis in response to different dietary stimulations and provided a reference for deciphering the potential targets of physiologically important miRNAs in a non-model organism.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • 3' Untranslated Regions
  • Animals
  • Glycogen / genetics
  • Glycogen / metabolism
  • Homeostasis / genetics
  • Insulin / genetics
  • Insulin / metabolism
  • MicroRNAs* / metabolism
  • Signal Transduction / genetics
  • Sugars / metabolism
  • Tephritidae* / genetics
  • Tephritidae* / metabolism
  • Triglycerides / metabolism

Substances

  • 3' Untranslated Regions
  • Insulin
  • MicroRNAs
  • Sugars
  • Triglycerides
  • Glycogen

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Key R & D Program of China (No. 2019YFD1002100) and China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA (CARS-26) to HYZ. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.