Infection patterns and fitness effects of Rickettsia and Sodalis symbionts in the green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea

Endosymbionts are widely distributed in insects and can strongly affect their host ecology. The common green lacewing (Chrysoperla carnea) is a neuropteran insect which is widely used in biological pest control. However, their endosymbionts and their interactions with their hosts have not been very well studied. Therefore, we screened for endosymbionts in natural and laboratory populations of Ch. carnea using diagnostic PCR amplicons. We found the endosymbiont Rickettsia to be very common in all screened natural and laboratory populations, while a hitherto uncharacterized Sodalis strain was found only in laboratory populations. By establishing lacewing lines with no, single or co-infections of Sodalis and Rickettsia, we found a high vertical transmission rate for both endosymbionts (>89%). However, we were only able to estimate these numbers for co-infected lacewings. Sodalis negatively affected the reproductive success in single and co-infected Ch. carnea, while Rickettsia showed no effect. We hypothesize that the fitness costs accrued by Sodalis infections might be more tolerable in the laboratory than in natural populations, as the latter are also prone to fluctuating environmental conditions and natural enemies. The economic and ecological importance of lacewings in biological pest control warrants a more profound understanding of its biology, which might be influenced by symbionts

Simvastatin induces apoptosis in PTEN‑haploinsufficient lipoma cells

Adipose tissue tumors (lipomas) frequently develop in patients with heterozygous germ line phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) mutations. simvastatin has been demonstrated to exhibit antitumor effects, and so the aim of the present study was to assess the effects of simvastatin on the growth of human PTEN haploinsufficient lipoma cells. Whether the effects of simvastatin in lipomas are mediated via PTEN upregulation was also assessed. The results of the present study revealed that simvastatin treatment reduced cell viability and induced apoptosis in human lipoma cells. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the expression of cellular PTEN mRNA and protein was increased following simvastatin stimulation. In addition, the phosphorylation of protein kinase B and downstream targets of mammalian target of rapamycin and 4E‑binding protein (4E‑BP)‑1 was attenuated. It was also demonstrated that simvastatin induced PTEN transcriptional upregulation by increasing peroxisome proliferator‑activated receptor (PPAR)γ expression. The small interfering RNA‑mediated knockdown of PPARγ abrogated the stimulatory effect of simvastatin on the PTEN protein, but did not influence apoptosis. The results of the present study suggest that simvastatin may be beneficial for patients with inoperable PTEN haploinsufficient lipomas

The Grizzly, February 19, 1982

Union Victim of Apparent Vandalism • Bomberger to be Closed After Hours if Vandalism Continues • Foreign Language Career Day: Getting an Edge in Business • Arnold to Join Administration • Reagan: Friend of the Forces • Richter Urges Campus Involvement • Parents Notified of Possible Changes in Aid • Fraternities and Presidents • Meistersingers Begin Spring Concert Tour • English Department Considers Changes • News Briefs: Astronomer to Speak at Ursinus College; Winning Photographer to Conduct Courses at Ursinus College • Joan Jett at the Tower: I Don\u27t Care About a Bad Reputation • Winterfest 1982 • Pi Nu Epsilon: New Members Honored • UC Represents Bahrain in Model UN • USGA Notes • Aggies Buried by UC Women • Women Lose Thriller • Women\u27s Badminton • Sports Briefs: Aquabears Drop One to F&M; Men\u27s Intramural B-ball; Gymnasts Vault to Best Scores • Men\u27s Hoops Takes Two Out of Three • Grapplers Record Best in UC Historyhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1073/thumbnail.jp

Differentiated neuroprogenitor cells incubated with human or canine adenovirus, or lentiviral vectors have distinct transcriptome profiles

Several studies have demonstrated the potential for vector-mediated gene transfer to the brain. Helper-dependent (HD) human (HAd) and canine (CAV-2) adenovirus, and VSV-G-pseudotyped self-inactivating HIV-1 vectors (LV) effectively transduce human brain cells and their toxicity has been partly analysed. However, their effect on the brain homeostasis is far from fully defined, especially because of the complexity of the central nervous system (CNS). With the goal of dissecting the toxicogenomic signatures of the three vectors for human neurons, we transduced a bona fide human neuronal system with HD-HAd, HD-CAV-2 and LV. We analysed the transcriptional response of more than 47,000 transcripts using gene chips. Chip data showed that HD-CAV-2 and LV vectors activated the innate arm of the immune response, including Toll-like receptors and hyaluronan circuits. LV vector also induced an IFN response. Moreover, HD-CAV-2 and LV vectors affected DNA damage pathways - but in opposite directions - suggesting a differential response of the p53 and ATM pathways to the vector genomes. As a general response to the vectors, human neurons activated pro-survival genes and neuron morphogenesis, presumably with the goal of re-establishing homeostasis. These data are complementary to in vivo studies on brain vector toxicity and allow a better understanding of the impact of viral vectors on human neurons, and mechanistic approaches to improve the therapeutic impact of brain-directed gene transfer

A Polychaete’s Powerful Punch: Venom Gland Transcriptomics of Glycera Reveals a Complex Cocktail of Toxin Homologs

© The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The article attached is the publisher's pdf

The first venomous crustacean revealed by transcriptomics and functional morphology: remipede venom glands express a unique toxin cocktail dominated by enzymes and a neurotoxin

Animal venoms have evolved many times. Venomous species are especially common in three of the four main groups of arthropods (Chelicerata, Myriapoda, Hexapoda), which together represent tens of thousands of species of venomous spiders, scorpions, centipedes and hymenopterans. Surprisingly, despite their great diversity of body plans there is no unambiguous evidence that any crustacean is venomous. We provide the first conclusive evidence that the aquatic, blind and cave-dwelling remipede crustaceans are venomous, and that venoms evolved in all four major arthropod groups. We produced a three-dimensional reconstruction of the venom delivery apparatus of the remipede Speleonectes tulumensis, showing that remipedes can inject venom in a controlled manner. A transcriptomic profile of its venom glands shows that they express a unique cocktail of transcripts coding for known venom toxins, including a diversity of enzymes and a probable paralytic neurotoxin very similar to one described from spider venom. We screened a transcriptomic library obtained from whole animals and identified a non-toxin paralogue of the remipede neurotoxin that is not expressed in the venom glands. This allowed us to reconstruct its probable evolutionary origin, and underlines the importance of incorporating data derived from non-venom gland tissue to elucidate the evolution of candidate venom proteins. This first glimpse into the venom of a crustacean and primitively aquatic arthropod reveals conspicuous differences from the venoms of other predatory arthropods such as centipedes, scorpions and spiders, and contributes valuable information for ultimately disentangling the many factors shaping the biology and evolution of venoms and venomous species

Syllidae mitochondrial gene order is unusually variable for Annelida.

Complete mitochondrial genomes of five syllids (Streptosyllis sp., Eusyllis blomstrandi, Myrianida brachycephala, Typosyllis antoni and Typosyllis sp.) have been obtained using Illumina sequencing. Together with two previous studied taxa (Ramisyllis multicaudata and Trypanobia cryptica), the analysed sequences represent most of the main lineages within the family Syllidae (Anoplosyllinae, Eusyllinae, Autolytinae and Syllinae). The genomic features, gene order and phylogenetic relationships are examined. Unusual for annelids, syllid mitochondrial genomes are highly variable in their gene order. Considering genomic features, such as length, skewness, gene content, and codon bias, most similar to the rest of annelids are the genomes of E. blomstrandi and M. brachycephala, while Streptosyllis sp. and the analysed sylline taxa (R. multicaudata, T. cryptica, T. antoni and Typosyllis sp.) are the most dissimilar. Two methionine tRNA's (trnM) have been found in T. antoni and Typosyllis sp. The mt genomes of these latter taxa are the longest with numerous non-coding regions. The 13 protein coding genes, as well as the rRNA's are used to perform phylogenetic analyses that recovered the relationships within the family explored before by previous authors. The gene order in Syllidae shows very different patterns. E. blomstrandi and M. prolifera show a similar pattern to the one found in Pleistoannelida; however this might have changed at least twice within Syllidae: in Streptosyllis sp. and within Syllinae. All analysed Syllinae show different gene orders, thereby illustrating more variability as all other pleistoannelids analysed so far. The information provided herein allows a more accurate reconstruction of the possible evolutionary scenarios in Syllidae