Meeting Abstract
Diapause is an alternative developmental pathway that provides insects, and other animals, a means to “escape” seasons of harsh environmental conditions. Diapause is characterized by altered gene expression profiles which mediate developmental arrest, metabolic depression, increased stress-resistance, and other physiological and biochemical changes associated with this dormant state. MicroRNAs are a class of small (18-23 nucleotide), non-coding RNAs that are predicted to post-transcriptionally regulate diapause-relevant changes in gene expression during pupal diapause in the flesh fly, Sarcophaga bullata. We identified 38 differentially expressed mature miRNAs and miRNA precursors in diapausing pupae compared to their non-diapause counterparts using Illumina sequencing and qRT-PCR. The abundance of several evolutionarily conserved miRNAs, including miR-305-3p, miR-125-5p, bantam-5p, and miR-13b-3p was reduced by at least 2-fold in diapause pupae compared to non-diapause pupae. Sixteen miRNAs were up to 5-fold more abundant in diapause pupae than in non-diapause pupae, including 12 evolutionarily conserved miRNAs (e.g., miR-289-5p, miR-307-3p, miR-190, miR-306-5p, miR-1-3p, and others) and 4 miRNAs that have not previously been identified and may be unique to this species. Together these data provide the first known miRNA sequences for a non-Drosophila fly and provide information about a previously unexplored mechanism for the regulation of diapause.
