Cloning and expression analysis of G-protein Gαq subunit and Gβ1 subunit from Bemisia tabaci Gennadius (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae).

The heterotrimeric G proteins play an essential role in a wide variety of signal transduction pathways, mediating the process of chemical signals from the environment in all higher eukaryotic organisms. In this article, two G-protein subunit genes encoding Gαq and Gβ1 were cloned from Bemisia tabaci Gennadius. The full-length cDNA sequence of BtGαq consisted of 2,336 bp with an ORF of 1,062 bp encoding 353 amino acids and BtGβ1 had a full length of 1,942 bp with an ORF of 1,023 nucleotides encoding 340 amino acids. The amino acid sequences of BtGαq and BtGβ1 from B. tabaci B biotype were identical to those from the Q biotype. Phylogenetic analysis identified G protein α and β subunit families from insects based on their amino acid sequences. The expression patterns of BtGαq and BtGβ1 at different development stages and in different body regions were analyzed by real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot. The results show that BtGαq and BtGβ1 are neither developmental stage-specific nor tissue-specific. The transcript levels of BtGαq in the B biotype are similar to that in the Q biotype, the transcript levels of BtGβ1 at egg, first instar and pupae in B biotype were significantly higher than that in Q biotype. The transcript levels of BtGαq and BtGβ1 in the head were significantly higher than those in thorax and abdomen indicating that they are involved in nervous system and sensory functions.