The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway is a well-conserved intracellular signal transduction pathway, and has important roles in mammalian reproduction. However, it is unknown whether MAPK also regulates insect reproductive mechanisms. Therefore, we investigated the role of the MAPK signaling pathway in ovarian growth and oviposition in the cabbage beetle Colaphellus bowringi, an economically important pest of Cruciferous vegetables. As an initial step, 14 genes from the extracellular regulated protein kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and p38 MAPK (P38) cascades were knocked down using RNA interference (RNAi). The results revealed that RNAi knockdown of MAPK-ERK kinase (MEK), ERK, Kinase suppressor of RAS 2 (KSR2), and P38 induced ovarian development stagnation, low fecundity, and decreased longevity, which indicate that ERK and P38 signaling pathways are important for female C. bowringi survival and reproduction. The potential regulatory role of ERK and P38 pathways in the female reproductive process was investigated using quantitative real-time PCR. We found that ERK pathway possibly regulated ecdysone biosynthesis and P38 pathway possibly involved in the germline stem cell (GSC) development and differentiation. Our findings demonstrated the importance of the MAPK signaling pathway in the female reproduction of insects, and further enhanced the molecular mechanism of female reproductive regulation in insects.
Keywords: MAPK signaling pathway; germline stem cells; reproduction.