Transcriptome Analysis Reveals the Role of Zelda in the Regulation of Embryonic and Wing Development of Tribolium Castaneum

Ab stract Zinc finger protein (Zelda) is a type of transcription factors with a finger domain, which plays an important role in cell differentiation, embryonic development, and activation of the early zygotic genome in insects. However, the functions of Zelda in T .  castaneum  are poorly understood. Herein, the developmental expression profile showed that Zelda  of Tribolium castaneum  ( TcZelda ) was highly expressed in early eggs. Tissue expression profiling revealed that TcZelda  was mainly expressed in the larval head and adult ovary of late adults and late larvae.  TcZelda  knockdown severely affected pupal eclosion. These results speculated that TcZelda  is related to the activation of the zygote genome in early embryonic development. Furthermore, 592 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified from the ds Zelda  treated group. Compared with the control group, ALD  and GAP  in the ds Zelda  group were significantly down-regulated, while TGF  was significantly up-regulated, suggesting that TcZelda may be involved in insect embryonic development. In addition, the expression of UBX , CX , EN , and two ABD  genes were significantly down-regulated, suggesting that they may cooperate with TcZelda  to regulate the development of insect wings. Additionally, ELO , FAS , and FAD  expression was inhibited in ds Zelda  insects, which could disturb the lipase signaling pathways, thus, disrupting the insect reproductive system and pheromone synthesis. These results may help reveal the function of TcZelda  in insects and the role of certain genes in the gene regulatory network and provide new ideas for the prevention and control of T .  castaneum .