The DOI matches its Crossref record; 82 of the 82 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Brochosomes as an antireflective camouflage coating for leafhoppers
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
In nature, insects face immense predation pressure, where visual cues play a vital role in predators locating them. To counter this threat, insects employ a variety of nano- and microstructures on their cuticular layer to manipulate and interact with light, enhancing antireflective properties and providing camouflage or reducing detectability by predators. Leafhoppers have a unique extracuticular coating called brochosome, yet its antireflective functions and protein composition remain unclear. Our study demonstrates strong antireflective properties of brochosomes, effectively reducing reflectance on the cuticle surface, especially in the ultraviolet spectrum, to improve evasion from visual predators. Furthermore, we identify four novel structural proteins of the brochosome (BSM) for the first time. Inhibiting their synthesis by RNAi alters brochosome morphology, impacting the optical properties of the cuticle surface. Evolutionary origin analysis of BSM suggests that brochosomes likely originated from a process involving duplication–divergence. Our study reveals that leafhoppers employ a unique camouflage strategy by secreting brochosomes as antireflection nanocoatings, enabling them to evade natural predators and contributing to their evolutionary success.
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Metadata
- Authors
- Wu, W., Mao, Q., Ye, Z.-X., Liao, Z., Shan, H.-W., Li, J.-M., Zhang, C.-X., & Chen, J.-P.
- Affiliations
- Ningbo University (CN)
- ZheJiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CN)
- State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Products Safety, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MARA, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Green Plant Protection, Institute of Plant Virology, Ningbo University
- Corresponding author
- Wu, Wei
- Venue
- eLife
- Publisher
- eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
- Published
- 2025-05-28
- Volume
- 13
- ISSN
- 2050-084X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4410822148
- Cited by
- 3
- References
- 82
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3
- FWCI
- 0.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (vor)
- creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (am)
- creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (tdm)
- Locations
- eLife (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (U23A6006, U20A2036, 32270150)
- Natural Science Foundation of Ningbo Municipality (2023J112)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Surfaces, Coatings and Films › Optical Coatings and Gratings
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Hemiptera Insect Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Insect Resistance and Genetics
- Keywords
- brochosomes, leafhoppers, antireflection coatings, camouflage, ultraviolet reflectance, structural proteins, RNAi knockdown, protein evolution, gene duplication and divergence, predator escape, insect cuticle
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- Wu, W., Mao, Q., Ye, Z.-X., Liao, Z., Shan, H.-W., Li, J.-M., Zhang, C.-X., & Chen, J.-P. (2025). Brochosomes as an antireflective camouflage coating for leafhoppers. eLife. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.99639.3
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