Abstract: 【Aim】 The brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) (Hemiptera: Delphacidae), is a serious rice pest in China and Southeast Asia. The occurrence and migration of N. lugens is thought to be related to temperature. This study was conducted to understand the expression patterns of heat shock protein genes (hsps) in the adaptation to temperature stress in N. lugens. 【Methods】 Female and male N. lugens adults were exposed to high temperature (30℃-40℃) for 1 h and 2 h, respectively. Real-time PCR was used to detect the expression of β-actin 1, β-actin 2, β-actin 3,28S rRNA, 18S rRNA and α-2-tubluin in their bodies. The most stable candidate reference gene was identified using geNorm and BestKeeper software. The expression levels of hsp70 and hsp90 genes in the treated N. lugensadults were measured using RT-qPCR. 【Results】 The most stable reference gene in both female and male adults of N. lugens after exposure to heat stress was β-actin 1. The expression levels of hsp70 after heat stress ranging from 30℃ to 40℃ in both female and male adults were not significantly different compared with those in the control group. The expression level of hsp 90 displayed significant up-regulation and reached the highest levels in female adults and male adults exposed to 40℃ and 38℃ for 2 h, respectively. 【Conclusions】β-actin 1 can be used as the reference gene for normalization of gene expression under high temperature stress in N. lugensadults. The expression of hsp 90 is induced by heat shock and the over-expression of hsp 90 might be involved in the enhancement of thermal tolerance in N. lugens adults.

Key words: Nilaparvata lugens, heat shock protein, expression pattern, reference gene, qRT-PCR