Project description:We describe the first comprehensive venom profile of a solitary bee, the European carpenter bee Xylocopa violacea, by using a combined proteo-transcriptomic approach. Transcripts of the venom system are used as specific database to match peptide sequences from mass spectrometry analyses of venom from dissected venom glands and venom injected during a defensive sting. In our analyses, we only discuss the proteo-transcriptomically supported venom components and reveal a diverse venom profile with 43 different protein families of which 32 are identified in the injected venom.
Project description:Using a combination of Whole Genome Bisulfite Sequencing (WGBS) and RNA Sequencning (RNA-seq) we explored the effect that the loss of maternal care has on newly eclosed female offspring in the subsocial carpenter bee Ceratina calcarata.
2018-08-09 | GSE111611 | GEO
Project description:Venom composition and pain-causing toxins of the Australian great carpenter bee Xylocopa aruana
Project description:Bifidobacteria constitute commensal bacteria that commonly inhabit the mammalian gastro intestinal tract. The gut commensal Bifidobacterium breve UCC2003 was previously shown to utilise a variety of plant/diet-derived carbohydrates, including cellodextrin, starch and galactan. In the current study, we investigated the ability of this strain to utilize (parts of) a host-derived source of carbohydrate, namely the mucin glycoprotein. Here, we demonstrate that B. breve UCC2003 exhibits growth properties in a mucin-based medium, but only when in the presence of Bifidobacterium bifidum PRL2010, which is known to metabolize mucin. Based on HPAEC analysis, transcriptome data and insertion mutagenesis, it appears that B. breve UCC2003 sustains this improved survival in co-culture by cross-feeding on a combination of fucose, sialic acid and galactose-containing oligosaccharides.
