Annotation And Expression Of Transcription Factors Of Ceratosolen Solmsi

Unlike many other insects, fig wasps exhibit obvious sexual dimorphism. The morphological and behavioral differences may be related to differences in the expression of genes involved in morphological development and physiological activity, especially those encoding transcription factors(TFs), as one of the main types of upstream factors regulating gene expression. Recently, the genome of one fig wasp species, Ceratosolen solmsi, has been sequenced by our lab. Based on the genomic and transcriptome data, we carried out comprehensive TF prediction and analyzed the expression levels of TFs between females and males.Through combining predictions based on homology and the DNA binding domains database,868TFs were detected in C. solmsi, which was not significantly different compared to the number of TFs found in two other hymenopteran insects, N. vitripennis and A. mellifera. Evolutionary analysis indicated that most of the TFs in these three hymenopteran species appeared prior to their differentiation, except for some specific TFs, such as TFs with5or more DBDs that are present in N. vitripennis and A. mellifera but absent in C. solmsi. Analyses of the transcriptome of females and males at four key life stages revealed that some TFs show sex-specific gene expression, which may result in the extreme anatomical sexual dimorphism observed in this species. These TFs may participate in morphological development and important physiological activities. In addition, a strong correlation was found between TF and overall gene expression, and further analyses confirmed in the domain degree of the TFs, indicating that TFs play vital roles in the regulation of gene expression.Our analyses and comparison of the TFs found in C. solmsi with other hymenopteran insects provided new insights into the distribution and evolution of TFs in fig wasps, an obligate mutualist insect. Most of the TFs found in C. solmsi were generated prior to the hymenopteran differentiation. Transcriptomic comparisons of TFs between the sexes at four different life stages contributed to elucidating the molecular basis of the extreme anatomical sexual dimorphism of this species. This work provides a valuable reference for TF research in a non-model organism.