Molecular and functional characterization of the flightin gene in the Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis

Flightin is a protein in flight muscles and is crucial for the flight capacity. Flightin also has been proposed as a protein with deep ancestry and functions outside of flight muscles. However, functional and molecular characterization of flightin achieved so far is mainly in flight muscles of Drosophila . Here, we cloned the flightin ( Bd‐flightin ) gene and tested its expression and function in Bactrocera dorsalis , an important migratory pest. Phylogenetic analysis based on flightin orthologs revealed that the divergence of flightin is consistent with the taxonomic classification of insects. Motif analysis indicated obvious variations in flightin orthologs, which may have occurred during speciation and functional differentiation. The expression is quite low during egg and larval stages, which largely increased during pupal stage and then peaked at the beginning of the adult stage. Bd‐flightin also showed tissue‐ and age‐specific expression patterns during adult stage. The relative expression level is low in wing, head, ovary and testis, which is relatively higher in leg and abdominal wall and much higher in thorax. Injection of late pupae and newly eclosed adults with 1 μg flightin dsRNA per insect both significantly reduced the expression of flightin and the flight capacity in males and females. In addition, silencing the expression of flightin also decreased the weight ratio of thorax and whole‐body. These results suggested that flightin plays important roles in flight muscle development and flight function in B. dorsalis , which can potentially be used to control the flight behaviour of the fruit fly.