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Enhancement of the geomagnetic field reduces the phototaxis of rice brown planthopper Nilaparvata lugens associated with frataxin down‐regulation
Author(s) -
Zhang YingChao,
Wan GuiJun,
Wang WeiHong,
Li Yue,
Yu Yang,
Zhang YuXia,
Chen FaJun,
Pan WeiDong
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
insect science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.991
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1744-7917
pISSN - 1672-9609
DOI - 10.1111/1744-7917.12714
Subject(s) - brown planthopper , phototaxis , biology , magnetoreception , earth's magnetic field , frataxin , gene knockdown , microbiology and biotechnology , biophysics , magnetic field , botany , mitochondrion , genetics , gene , physics , aconitase , quantum mechanics
The geomagnetic field (GMF) is an environmental cue that provides directional information for animals. The intensity of GMF is varied over space and time. Variations in the GMF intensity affect the navigation of animals and their physiology. In this study, the phototaxis of the migratory insect rice planthopper Nilaparvata lugens ( N . lugens ) and frataxin in N. lugens ( Nl‐fh ), which is a mitochondrial protein required for cellular iron homeostasis and iron‐sulfur cluster assembly, were investigated by using different intensities of magnetic field. From the results, individuals of N. lugens showed decreased phototaxis when reared and tested in a behavioral arena under a strong magnetic field. Besides the reduction in performance, an accompanying effect of the strong magnetic field condition was a reduced level of Nl‐fh ‐messenger RNA, and a Nl‐fh knockdown indeed impaired the phototactic behavior in a tested sample of insects. This leads to the conclusion that the expression of frataxin is dependent on the strength of the surrounding magnetic field and that functional frataxin facilitates phototactic behavior in N. lugens .