Molecular cloning, characterisation and mRNA expression of the ryanodine receptor from the peach-potato aphid, Myzus persicae

The peach potato aphid, Myzus persicae, is one of the most important agricultural pests of temperate climates. It is mainly controlled through the judicious application of insecticides; however, over time, aphids have developed resistance to many insecticidal classes. The recent introduction of synthetic diamide insecticides, with a novel mode of action, potentially offers new tools to control aphid populations. These diamides act on the ryanodine receptor (RyR), a large endoplasmic calcium release channel. In this study we have cloned cDNAs encoding the complete open reading frame of the RyR from M. persicae. The open reading frame is 15,306 base pairs long and encodes a protein of 5101 amino acids. The aphid RyR shares many of the features of other insect and vertebrate RyRs, including a highly conserved transmembrane region. However, unlike the other RyRs characterised to date, the M. persicae channel does not display alternative splicing at any stage of its developmental cycle, so it cannot generate functional variants of the channel.