Study On The Sexual Dimorphism Mechanism Of Two Fireflies Lantern Glow Light Spectrum

Pygoluciola qingyu was distributed in many provinces in southern China,The emergence period of adult is in July.In order to attract females,males quickly flashed which gathering at the end of the vines or leaves and the flash rate of females were relatively slowed than males.In addition,the lantern of adult females and males emits the different colors of light which possessed the pHenomenon of spectral dimorpHism of the lantern.The light colors of the lantern were yellowish and greenish in males and females,respectively.Abscondita anceyi contained the main features of big body,terrestrial larve,cannibalism and polyphagia.And they possessed the same pHenomenon of spectral dimorpHism as Pygoluciola qingyu.So far,none researches related to the pHenomenon of spectral dimorphism of the lantern were reported.In the current study,we employed a serious of molecular biological techniques to study the mechanism of the pHenomenon of spectral dimorpHism in lantern,including the cloning of luciferase genes,RT-PCR and prokaryotic expression.These results would provide a theoretical basis of the phenomenon of spectral dimorphism in lantern.1.Cloning of the firefly luciferase genesWe found two kinds of the firefly luciferase genes(AtLuc1,AtLuc2)in Abscondita terminalis,which adult emitter slight color.We also found two kinds of the firefly luciferase genes(PqLuc1,PqLuc2;AaLuc1,AaLnc2)in the species of Pygoluciola qingyu and Abscondita anceyi,which emitter color were different between males and females.The males were yellowish and females were greenish.Through analyzing the senquences of these luciferase genes,AtLuc1,PqLuc1 and AaLuc1 had a high similarity with the Luc1-type firefly luciferase which had been studied previously.At the same time,AtLuc2,PqLuc2 and AaLuc2 also had a high similarity with the Luc2-type firefly luciferase,and they had a high intergeneric conservatism.2.Quantitative expression of both luciferase gene in different tissuesThrough Real-time PCR,we analyzed the relative expression of the luciferasegenes in different tissues of Pygoluciola qingyu and Abscondita anceyi.The resultsshowed that PqLuc1 was expressed obviously in the adult lantern of females and males,and there was no significant expression in other tissues.In addition,PqLuc2 was only expressed in the ovary of adult female.These similar results were also obtained in the species of Abscondita aceyi which AaLucl was expressed obviously in the adult lantern of females and males.There was no significant expression in other tissues,and AaLuc2 was only expressed in the ovary of adult female.3.Prokaryotic expression of luciferase genesBy expression,extraction,purification and concentrated,we obtained the protein sequence of PqLucl and the high-purity protein product.These studies provided the theoretical basis for researching the impact of pH on the diversity of light color.This study confirmed that there were two luciferase genes in Abscondita terminalis,Pygoluciola qingyu and Abscondita anceyi,respectively.We also found that the sexual dimorphism of the emission spectrum of firefly light emitter was not due to the different luciferase genes in females and males.These researches provided the theoretical basis for our next step to explore the mechanisms of spectral dimorphism in lantern,such as the value of pH.