Genes from bacteria can actually affect courtship?

Recently, researchers from Zhejiang University discovered that cross-species gene transfer can actually affect insect behavior. They found 1,410 foreign genes from bacteria, viruses, fungi and plants in more than 200 insect species.

These genes may be crucial to insect evolution, helping insects evolve traits that are beneficial for behaviors such as mating, eating, growth, and adapting to the environment.

Among these genes, a large number of them were discovered for the first time. Nearly 80% of them came from bacteria, and the rest came from fungi, viruses and plants. Among the different insect categories, Lepidoptera (including many butterflies and moths) has the most genes, with an average of 16 per species.

The research team used the CRISPR/Cas9 system to examine a HGT gene from the common ancestor of moths and butterflies: LOC105383139. This gene was horizontally transferred from Listeria to the genome of the common ancestor of moths and butterflies more than 300 million years ago.

After knocking out the LOC105383139 gene of the diamondback moth, a lepidopteran insect that is a global pest of cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower and cabbage, they unexpectedly found that the number of offspring of these diamondback moths was significantly reduced.

Why is the number decreasing?

Further analysis revealed that the reason was that male diamondback moths lacking the LOC105383139 gene had a decreased desire to mate.

This is the first time that scientists have revealed the impact of bacterial gene transfer on animal courtship behavior.

Li et al. HGT is widespread in insects and contributes to male courtship in lepidopterans. Cell(2022)