The Bactrocera dorsalis caspase‐1 gene is expressed throughout development and required for female fertility

BACKGROUND The oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis is one of the most destructive pests for fruits and vegetables. The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is an effective and environment-friendly approach to control the tephritid fruit flies. The pro-apoptotic gene head involution defective (hid) has been used as an effective lethal effector in SIT. It initiates a cascade of interaction including the activation of caspase-like proteases. However, the biological role of caspases activity in the tephritid fruit flies has yet to be explored. RESULTS In this study, the B. dorsalis caspase-1 gene (Bdcp-1) was cloned and characterized. The sequence comparison showed that Bdcp-1 protein shared a highly homology to Drosophila effector caspases Drice and Dcp-1. It is predicted to contain a short pro-domain as two proteolytic cleavage sites (Asp16 and Asp223 ) were present. The expression patterns indicated that Bdcp-1 highly transcribed at embryos and the expression was up regulated during metamorphosis and upon reception of the ultraviolet irradiation. RNA interference showed that Bdcp-1 was essential for the ovarian development and the female fertility. For instance, knock-down of Bdcp-1 caused a transcriptionally down regulation the expression of the yolk protein-1 gene (Bdyp-1) and a delayed ovarian development. The percentage of spawning female and female fecundity were significantly reduced. CONCLUSION This study illustrates the function of the Bdcp-1 gene and provides an attractive choice to develop the biological way to control the oriental fruit fly through the control of the caspases. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.