Project description:Larvae of the pest Protaetia brevitarsis are used to treat infections in traditional Chinese medicine. However, genomic information about this non-model species is currently lacking. To better understand the fundamental biology of this non-model species, its transcriptome was obtained using next generation sequencing and then analyzed. A total of 7.62 Gb of clean reads were obtained, which were assembled into 169,087 transcripts corresponding to 142,000 annotated unigenes. These unigenes were functionally classified according to Gene Ontology (GO), euKaryotic Ortholog Groups of proteins (KOG), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) annotations. A total of 41,921 unigenes were assigned to 56 GO terms, 21,454 unigenes were divided among 26 KOG categories, and 16,368 unigenes were assigned to 32 KEGG pathways. In addition, 19,144 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were identified. Furthermore, several kinds of natural antimicrobial peptides and proteins, 4 histones with potential antimicrobial activity, and 41 potential antimicrobial peptide sequences were identified. These data are the first reported whole transcriptome sequence of P. brevitarsis larvae, which represents a valuable genomic resource for studying this species, thus promoting the utilization of its medical potential.
Project description:Herein, the in vitro protein digestibility of lyophilized Protaetia brevitarsis larvae flour with and without defatting using 70% ethanol was compared with beef loin. Proximate analysis showed that the defatted larvae contained the highest protein content (p < 0.05). The viable counts of total aerobic bacteria, Escherichia coli, and coliform bacteria decreased significantly after defatting the larval samples with 70% ethanol (p < 0.05). Measurement of ?-amino group content and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) revealed higher amounts of low molecular weight proteins in the larvae compared to beef loin (p < 0.05). After in vitro digestion, the degree of protein hydrolysis of the digesta was higher for both larvae samples compared to beef loin (p < 0.05). No change was observed in the in vitro larval protein digestibility after defatting. These results highlight the excellent protein digestibility of P. brevitarsis larvae with high protein content. Defatting insect flour with 70% ethanol could enhance microbial safety while maintaining excellent protein digestibility.