Project description:Firefly larvae are highly specialized predators of snails, which utilize midgut secretions to incapacitate and pre-digest their much larger prey. With the current analysis we aim to shed light on the composition of the midgut secretion of these larvae utilizing a proteo-transcriptomic approach.
Project description:Sugarcane stalk borer larvae were grown on artificial diet and maintained at 25°C and 60±10% relative humidity with a 14 h/10 h light/dark cycle. Second instar larvae were maintained under fasting conditions for 18 h and transferred to two-month old plants (genotype SP80-3280, CTC, Brazil). Leaves were collected after 30 min and 24 h of exposure to herbivory for the control and experimental groups. Two plantlets were used for each time point. Extraction of total RNA was performed separately on each sample pool. Keywords: time course of stress response
Project description:Using Illumina platform, deep sequencing of 12 small RNA libraries was performed from Helicoverpa armigera larvae fed on artificial diet (AD) or recombinant Capsicum annuum PI-7 (rCanPI-7) incorporated diet at various time intervals (0.5, 2, 6, 12, 24, and 48h). Several candidate miRNAs (conserved and novel) were differentially expressed in rCanPI-7 fed larvae as compared to the larvae fed on AD. The investigation revealed potential roles of miRNAs in H. armigera protease gene regulation.
Project description:Artificial visible light is everywhere in our modern life. Our mode of social communication confronts us with screens of all kinds and their use is on the rise. People are therefore increasingly exposed to artificial visible light of which effects on skin are still largely poorly known. The purpose of this study was to model the artificial visible light emitted by electronic devices and subsequently assess the effect of such a light in normal human fibroblasts.
Project description:Fireflies and their fascinating luminous courtships have inspired centuries of scientific study. Today firefly luciferase is widely used in biotechnology, but the evolutionary origin of their bioluminescence remains unclear. To shed light on this long-standing question, we sequenced the genomes of two firefly species that diverged over 100 million-years-ago: the North American Photinus pyralis and Japanese Aquatica lateralis. To compare bioluminescent origins, we also sequenced the genome of a related click-beetle, the Caribbean Ignelater luminosus, with bioluminescent biochemistry near-identical to fireflies, but anatomically unique light organs, suggesting the intriguing but contentious hypothesis of parallel gains of bioluminescence. Our analyses support two independent gains of bioluminescence between fireflies and click-beetles, and provide new insights into the genes, chemical defenses, and symbionts that evolved alongside their luminous lifestyle.
Project description:<p>Aquatic insects are well-adapted to freshwater environments, but metabolic mechanisms of such adaptations, particularly to primary environmental factors (e.g., hypoxia, water pressure, dark light and abundant microbes), are poorly known. Most firefly species (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) are terrestrial, but the larvae of a few species are aquatic. We generated 24 global metabolomic profiles of larvae and adults of <em>Aquatica leii</em> (freshwater) and <em>Lychnuris praetexta</em> (terrestrial) to identify freshwater adaptation-related metabolites (AARMs). We identified 110 differentially abundant metabolites (DAMs) in <em>A. leii</em> (adults vs aquatic larvae) and 183 DAMs in <em>L. praetexta</em> (adults vs terrestrial larvae). Furthermore, 100 DAMs specific to aquatic <em>A. leii</em> larvae were screened as AARMs via interspecific comparisons (<em>A. leii</em> vs <em>L. praetexta</em>), which were primarily involved in antioxidant activity, immune response, energy production and metabolism, and chitin biosynthesis. They were assigned to six categories/superclasses (e.g., lipids and lipid-like molecules, organic acids and derivatives, and organoheterocyclic compound). Finally, ten metabolic pathways shared between KEGG terms specific to aquatic fireflies and enriched by AARMs were screened as aquatic adaptation-related pathways (AARPs). These AARPs were primarily involved in energy metabolism, xenobiotic biodegradation, protection of oxidative/immune damage, oxidative stress response and sense function (e.g., glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, drug metabolism-cytochrome P450 and taste transduction), and certain aspects of morphology (e.g., steroid hormone biosynthesis). These results provide evidence suggesting that abundance changes in metabolomes contribute to freshwater adaptation of fireflies. The metabolites identified here may be vital targets for future work to determine the mechanism of freshwater adaptation in insects.</p>
Project description:3 day of fifth instar larvae were treated with ultra-violet (UV) rays using UVL-56 (1350μW/cm2, UVP) for 6 and 12 hours (29.2 and 58.32 J/cm2). Since, larvae of each group rare on artificial diet for 24 hour and dissected fatbody. We examined gene expression profile in these groups.
Project description:Ophiocordyceps sinensis (Berk.) Sacc., a complex of larval carcass (sclerotium) and stroma formed by the fungus of Hirsutella sinensis infecting Hepialidae insect larvae, whose fruiting body is also the main fungal structure used for taxonomic identification. However, the induction of fruiting body is still inefficient and the high cost resulting in the large-scale artificial cultivation of this fungus has been unsuccessful in China.In this study,important factors and target genes associated with the fruiting body induction during the development of O. sinensis were identified, providing a basic molecular mechanism for facilitating the large-scale artificial cultivation of O. sinensis.
Project description:We created two cell lines derived from Ovcar8 by stably transfecting with an eGFP-firefly luciferase fusion protein and either an additional copy of the gene TWIST1 or an shRNA against TWIST1, under the control of the CMV promoter. RNA sequencing was used to look for differential expression of genes that may impact cisplatin resistance in epithelial ovarian cancer.