Abstract: 【Aim】 Calliptamus italicus is a major plague pest in the arid and semi-arid grasslands of Xinjiang, with a lack of information of its reproduction related genes. The objective of this study is to reveal the characteristics of the transcriptome of C. italicus and to obtain the gonada development related genes in C. italicus through the transcriptome sequencing of its testicular and ovarian tissues. 【Methods】 The transcriptome of C. italicus was sequenced using the Illumina HiSeq/MiSeq platform and bioinformatically analyzed. 【Results】 A total of 718 872 unigenes were obtained, with a mean length of 631 bp and an N50 of 1 186 bp. Through a similarity search, 254 597 unigenes were annotated. Most unigenes (28.87%) were annotated to Nr database, and the unigenes of C. italicus had the highest similarity (10.80%) with those of Lasius niger annotated in Nr database. According to GO database, all unigenes were broadly annotated into three categories: 31 392 unigenes to be related to molecular function, 20 586 unigenes related to cellular component, and 57 014 unigenes related to biological processes. In KEGG database, a total of 23 666 unigenes were assigned to 251 metabolic pathways, of which many pathways are involved in the reproductive system development, including oocyte meiosis, insulin signaling pathway, Wnt signaling pathway, GnRH signaling pathway, TGF-β signaling pathway, ubiquitin mediated proteolysis, progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation, and insect hormone biosynthesis. By further screening and identification, gonadal development related genes of C. italicus, including genes of vg, vgr, sox 21b, testis-specific serine/threonine-protein kinase, spermatogenesis-associated protein and vasalike gene, were obtained. 【Conclusion】 This study acquired the transcriptome data and gonadal development related genes of C. italicus, providing a molecular foundation for further studying the mechanism of reproductive regulation of C. italicus.

Key words: Calliptamus italicus, high-throughput sequencing technology, gene annotation, ovary, testis