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:Embryonic neocortical cells were isolated from E14.5 WT mice, followed by TrypLE Express treatment and trituration to generate a single-cell suspension. Plasmid DNA was introduced into primary neocortical cells using Neon Transfection System. Next, neocortical neurospheres were cultured in serum-free media containing, then control and Prdm16-overexpressing cells were corrected after GFP sorting of 1 day cultures. We found that marked upregulation of modulators of mitochondrial metabolism and ROS balance in Prdm16 GOF cells
Project description:All the reports on insect small RNAs come from holometabolous insects. However, small RNAs of hemimetabolous insects have not yet been investigated.Study of hemimetabolous insect small RNAs could provide more insights into evolution and function of small RNAs in hemi- and holometabolous insects. The locust is an important, economically harmful hemimetabolous insect and its phase changes is an interesting phenomenon.Here, we used high-throughput sequencing to characterize and compare the small RNA transcriptomes of gregarious and solitary phases in locusts. We found abundant small RNAs and their different expression profiles in the two phases.
Project description:This project aims to study the role played by small non-coding RNAs in the response of aquatic organisms to the presence of micropollutants in the environment. MiRNA were purified from Eels (Anguilla anguilla) sampled from two sites along the Gironde aquatic system with contrasted pollution profiles.