ABSTRACT: Ant-infecting Ophiocordyceps genomes reveal a high diversity of potential behavioral manipulation genes and a possible major role for enterotoxins
Project description:Ant-infecting Ophiocordyceps genomes reveal a high diversity of potential behavioral manipulation genes and a possible major role for enterotoxins
Project description:The biting behavior observed in Carpenter ants infected by the specialized fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis s.l. is an example of a complex host behavioral manipulation by parasite. Though parasitic manipulation of host behavior is generally assumed to be due to the parasite’s gene expression, few studies have set out to test this. We experimentally infected Carpenter ants to collect tissue from both parasite and host during the time period when manipulated biting behavior is experienced. Upon observation of synchronized biting, samples were collected and subjected to RNA-Seq analyses. We also sequenced and annotated the O. unilateralis s.l. genome as a reference for the fungal reads. Our mixed transcriptomics approach, together with a comparative genomics study, shows that the majority of the fungal genes that are up-regulated during manipulated biting behavior are unique to the O. unilateralis s.l. genome. This study furthermore reveals that the fungal parasite might be regulating immune- and neuronal stress responses in the host during manipulated biting, as well as impairing its chemosensory communication and causing apoptosis. Moreover, we found genes up-regulated during manipulation that putatively encode for proteins with reported effects on behavioral outputs, proteins involved in various neuropathologies, and proteins involved in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites such as alkaloids.
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: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:The goal of this study was to assay the extent of variation in chromatin organization between 3 ant castes (major and minor female workers and males) in one colony of Camponotus floridanus carpenter ant using ChIPseq.
Project description:Psychedelics hold promising potential as alternate treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the neural mechanisms by which they drive adaptive behavioral effects remain unclear. We isolated the specific neurons modulated by a psychedelic to determine their role in driving behavior. Using a light- and calcium-dependent activity integrator, we genetically tagged psychedelic-responsive neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of mice. Single-nucleus RNA sequencing revealed that the psychedelic drove network-level activation of multiple cell-types, beyond those expressing 5-hydroxytryptamine 2A receptors. We labeled psychedelic-responsive mPFC neurons with an excitatory channelrhodopsin to enable their targeted manipulation. We found that reactivation of these cells recapitulated the anxiolytic effects of the psychedelic, without driving its hallucinogenic-like effects. These findings reveal essential insight into the cell-type specific mechanisms underlying psychedelic-induced behavioral states.
Project description:Hippocampus and amygdala expression was examined in naive, conditioned stimulus exposed, and fear conditioned mice 30 minutes after behavioral manipulation
Project description:The goal of this study was to assay the extent of variation in chromatin organization between 3 ant castes (major and minor female workers and males) in one colony of Camponotus floridanus carpenter ant using ChIPseq. 45 samples total: 30 ChIP samples and 3 inputs for total histone H3, 7 histone H3 PTMs and RNA Pol II in major, minor, and male ants; CBP in major and minor ants; the major H3K27ac sample was replicated. 4 ChIP samples for H3 and H3K27ac in brains of majors and minors, and 2 inputs. 2 RNAseq samples for major and minor ants head+thorax; 4 RNAseq samples for brain (majors and minors with 2 replicates each).
Project description:In order to provide a global insight on the transcripts expressed in the venom gland of the Brazilian ant species Tetramorium bicarinatum and to unveil the potential of its products, high-throughput expressed sequence tags were generated using Illumina paired-end sequencing technology. A total of 212,371,758 pairs of quality-filtered, 100-base-pair Illumina reads were obtained. The de novo assemblies yielded 36,042 contigs for which 27,873 have at least one predicted ORF among which 59.77% produce significant hits in the available databases. The investigation of the reads mapping toxin class revealed a high diversification with the major part consistent with the classical hymenopteran venom protein signature represented by venom allergen (33.3%) followed by a diverse toxin-expression profile including several distinct isoforms of phospholipase A1 and A2, venom serine protease, hyaluronidase, protease inhibitor and secapin. Moreover, our results revealed for the first time the presence of toxin-like peptides that have been previously identified from unrelated venomous animals such as waprin-like (snakes) and agatoxins (spiders and conus). 300 ant specimens from the species Tetramorium bicarinatum were dissected in order to extract the RNA from their venom gland, The whole ant body was used as a reference,
Project description:Hippocamus and amygdala expression was examined in naïve, conditioned stimulus exposed, and fear conditioned mice 30 minutes after behavioral manipulation Keywords: comparison of 3 groups x 2 brain regions
