Metarhizium brunneum Blastospore Pathogenesis in Aedes aegypti Larvae: Attack on Several Fronts Accelerates Mortality

Aedes aegypti is the vector of a wide range of diseases (e.g. yellow fever, dengue, Chikungunya and Zika) which impact on over half the world's population. Entomopathogenic fungi such as Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana have been found to be highly efficacious in killing mosquito larvae but only now are the underlying mechanisms for pathogenesis being elucidated. Recently it was shown that conidia of M. anisopliae caused stress induced mortality in Ae. aegypti larvae, a different mode of pathogenicity to that normally seen in terrestrial hosts. Blastospores constitute a different form of inoculum produced by this fungus when cultured in liquid media and although blastospores are generally considered to be more virulent than conidia no evidence has been presented to explain why. In our study, using a range of biochemical, molecular and microscopy methods, the infection process of Metarhizium brunneum (formerly M. anisopliae) ARSEF 4556 blastospores was investigated. It appears that the blastospores, unlike conidia, readily adhere to and penetrate mosquito larval cuticle. The blastospores are readily ingested by the larvae but unlike the conidia are able infect the insect through the gut and rapidly invade the haemocoel. The fact that pathogenicity related genes were upregulated in blastospores exposed to larvae prior to invasion, suggests the fungus was detecting host derived cues. Similarly, immune and defence genes were upregulated in the host prior to infection suggesting mosquitoes were also able to detect pathogen-derived cues. The hydrophilic blastospores produce copious mucilage, which probably facilitates adhesion to the host but do not appear to depend on production of Pr1, a cuticle degrading subtilisin protease, for penetration since protease inhibitors did not significantly alter blastospore virulence. The fact the blastospores have multiple routes of entry (cuticle and gut) may explain why this form of the inoculum killed Ae. aegypti larvae in a relatively short time (12-24hrs), significantly quicker than when larvae were exposed to conidia. This study shows that selecting the appropriate form of inoculum is important for efficacious control of disease vectors such as Ae. aegypti

MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN

Marine bivalve mussels, especially Mytilus species are an earlywarning system used for determining of damage caused by the various aquatic pollutions. In the present study, Mytilus galloprovincialis L. (black mussel) have been utilised as a biomonitoring organism to reveal environmental pollution in the Aliaga, Foca and Urla where located along the Izmir Coast of Turkey. Mussels were collected at these areas and gill and hepatopancreas (digestive gland) tissues were excised. mRNA expressions of initiator (caspase-2 and -8) and executioner (caspase -3/7-1, -3/7-2, -3/7-3 and -3/7-4) caspases of mussels tissues in areas exposed to pollution agent have been observed. TUNEL immunoreactivity in paralel to histopathological changes in both Aliaga and Foca areas were compared with Urla. This study is the first report to reveal the pollution with apoptotic expression on mussels in the coast of Turkey. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Subacute effects on mice central nervous system of dimethyl isophthalate (DMIP)

[No Abstract Available]Ege University Project [2017/FEN/027]Ege University Project No: 2017/FEN/02

Angiogenic effect and wound healing potential of Enteromorpha linza L. (Linnaeus) J. Agardh (Green algae) methanol extract

41st FEBS Congress on Molecular and Systems Biology for a Better Life -- SEP 03-08, 2016 -- Kusadasi, TURKEYWOS: 000383616900185FEB

Neurotoxic effects of cypermethrin in Wistar rats: A haematological, biochemical and histopathological study

WOS: 000229868300007Cypermethrin is a synthetic pyrethroid that belongs to a group of insecticides with low mammalian toxicity but high insecticidal activity. The present study was undertaken to evaluate subacute toxicity of orally administered cypermethrin in rats based on the haematological, enzymological, and histological brain examination. The study was conducted on 8-week old male Wistar rats and Kra1 250 EC (250 a of cypermethrin/l) was orally administered (60, 150, and 300 mg/kg) for 28 consecutive day. Thus, the investigation covered four groups of animals: three experimental groups and one control group, of 20 rats each. Our results demonstrated that experimental groups receiving both 150 and 300 mg/kg cypermethrin treatment led to significant dose-dependent decrease in some haematological parameters [red blood cell (RBC) counts, haematocrite (Ht), thrombocyte, and mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) values] at the end of the experiment. When compared with control animals, there were significant increases between initial body weights and final body weights of cypermethrin treated rats, but there was a significant decrease in brain/body weight ratio of the animals of all treated groups. Furthermore, there was no statistical difference between control group and all experimental groups for brain acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and blood cholinesterase (ChE) enzyme activities, although brain AChE activities were increased in rats treated with a dose of 150 and 300 mg/kg cypermethrin. Histologically, some deformation areas due to ischemia and pyknosis of the cytoplasm of the neurons were observed in brain tissues of rats treated with all doses of cypermethrin

Immunoexpressions of embryonic and nonembryonic stem cell markers (Nanog, Thy-1, c-kit) and cellular connections (connexin 43 and occludin) on testicular tissue in thyrotoxicosis rat model

WOS: 000355334400004PubMed ID: 25304966In this study, possible thyrotoxicosis-related histological changes in testicular tissues of rats with experimentally induced thyrotoxicosis model were evaluated on cellular connections and stem cell markers. Two experimental groups, thyrotoxicosis and control, each consisting of eight animals were used. Rats in the thyrotoxicosis group were injected intraperitoneally with 3,3,5-triiodo-l-thyronine (50 mu g/100 g body weight/day) for 10 days. At the end of the study, animals in both groups were anesthetized, and blood samples were collected for biochemical analyses. Their testes were dissected out and histological procedure was conducted to perform further histochemical, immunohistochemical analyses and tissue expression analysis by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Expression of the stem cell markers such as c-kit and Thy-1 significantly decreased in the testes of the thyrotoxicosis group compared with the control group; however, Nanog expression was not detected in any of the groups. Similarly, connexin 43 and occludin expressions were also found to be significantly lower in the thyrotoxicosis group. These results on cellular connections are supported with the tissue expression analysis. Our findings are indicative of supporting microenvironmental tissue decay rather than parenchyma damage, which has been actually ignored in the literature. In conclusion, experimental thyrotoxicosis model may have adverse effects on the cell junctional complexes, cell-cell interactions, and pluripotency capacity.Ege University, Faculty of MedicineEge University [2011/TIP/042]The study is supported by Ege University, Faculty of Medicine (project number is 2011/TIP/042)