Transcript expression bias of phosphatidylethanolamine binding protein gene in bumblebee, Bombus lantschouensis (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

The phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein (PEBP) family is a highly conserved group of proteins found in a wide range of organism. It plays an important role in innate immunity of insects. Little is known on the expression characteristic and function of PEBP in bees. In the current study, we cloned the pebp gene and investigated its expression profiles at different developmental stages and reproductive status from bumblebee, Bombus lantschouensis (Vogt), which is one of the most abundant pollinators for wild plants and crops in Northern China. Two transcripts (PEBPX1 and PEBPX2) of the pebp gene were cloned for the first time. The transcript PEBPX2 lacked a signal peptide sequence compared to PEBPX1. The full-length cDNA of these two PEBP transcripts is 1005 bp and 915 bp, with an open reading frame of 627 bp and 549 bp, respectively. Transcript PEBPX2 was one order of magnitude more expressed than transcript PEBPX1 at most of the developmental stages and different reproductive status (egg-laying versus non- egg-laying females). Both of the PEBP transcripts were highly expressed in brown-eyed with light and dark pigmented cuticle pupae stages. Quantitative PCR and Western Blot demonstrated that PEBP was significantly up-regulated in egg-laying females. In summary, we suggest that levels of these two PEBPs could be related to the regulation of reproduction in bumblebees. In addition, both transcripts likely play an important role in the metamorphosis developmental stage of bumblebee pupae.