Clathrin heavy chain is essential for the development and reproduction of Locusta migratoria

Clathrin heavy chain (Chc) is a constituent of clathrin-coated vesicles and serves important functions in endocytosis and intracellular membrane trafficking but appears to have physiological roles also at the organismal level. Most of what we know about Chc functions originates from studies performed in fungal or vertebrate cells. However, the physiological functions of Chc in insects remain poorly understood. Here, we identified a Chc ortholog from a Locusta migratoria transcriptome database. RT-qPCR revealed that LmChc was constitutively expressed in fifth-instar nymphs. In this developmental stage, LmChc showed the highest expression in the ovary followed by hemolymph, testis, hindgut, midgut, and foregut. In isolated hemocytes, we detected the Chc protein in patches at the plasma membrane. To examine the role of LmChc in L. migratoria during development, RNA interference was performed by injecting dsRNA into the early fifth-instar nymphs. Silencing of LmChc caused a lethal phenotype with molting defect from nymph to adult. In addition, silencing of LmChc resulted in abnormal development of the ovaries, the size of which was significantly smaller than that in controls. Taken together, our results suggest that LmChc is a vital gene in L. migratoria that plays an important role in growth, development, and reproduction. LmChc may be used as an efficient RNAi target gene for developing dsRNA-based biological insecticides to manage insect pests.