Data set for diet specific differential gene expression analysis in three Spodoptera moths.

Examination of closely related species pairs is suggested for evolutionary comparisons of different degrees of polyphagy, which we did here with three taxa of lepidopteran herbivores, Spodoptera spp (S. littoralis, S. frugiperda maize (C) and rice (R) strains) for a RNAseq analysis of the midguts from the 3rd instar insect larvae for differential metabolic responses after feeding on pinto bean based artificial diet vs maize leaves. Paired-end (2×100 bp) Illumina HiSeq2500 sequencing resulted in a total of 24, 23, 24, and 21 million reads for the SF-C-Maize, SF-C-Pinto, SF-R-Maize, SF-R Pinto, and a total of 35 and 36 million reads for the SL-Maize and SL-Pinto samples, respectively. After quality control measures, a total of 62.2 million reads from SL and 71.7 million reads from SF were used for transcriptome assembly (TA). The resulting final de novo reference TA (backbone) for the SF taxa contained 37,985 contigs with a N50 contig size of 1030 bp and a maximum contig length of 17,093 bp, while for SL, 28,329 contigs were generated with a N50 contig size of 1980 bp and a maximum contig length of 18,267 bp. The data presented herein contains supporting information related to our research article Roy et al. (2016) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ibmb.2016.02.006[1].

Diet dependent metabolic responses in three generalist insect herbivores Spodoptera spp.

Adaption to dietary changes is critical in the evolution of host plant ranges in polyphagous insects. We compared three taxa of lepidopteran herbivores from the predominantly generalist genus Spodoptera showing different degrees of polyphagy: Spodoptera littoralis, with a broad host range including both mono- and dicotyledonous plants, and two Spodoptera frugiperda strains [Corn (i.e. maize) (C) and Rice (R)] adapted primarily to different grass species. When feeding on maize we show a lower performance in the broad generalist taxon compared to the grass adapted taxa. Among these taxa, the maize adapted S. frugiperda C-strain generally performed better than the R-strain on maize leaves. On artificial pinto diet, all taxa performed well. Our RNA-Seq analysis of midgut transcriptomes from 3rd instar larvae feeding on maize showed broader transcriptional readjustments in the generalist S. littoralis compared to grass adapted S. frugiperda strains. Substantial alteration in the expression levels of midgut physiological function related transcripts, such as digestive and detoxifying enzymes, transporters, immunity, and peritrophic membrane associated transcripts, existed in all taxa. We found high background expression of UDP-glucosyl transferases, which are known to neutralize maize leaf toxins, in the maize adapted S. frugiperda C-strain, contributing to its fitness on maize compared to the R-strain. Our findings provide evidence for divergent diet specific response of digestive physiology within these Spodoptera taxa. Unexpectedly, the C- and R-strains of S. frugiperda fed on the same diet showed large differences in expression patterns between these two closely related taxa.