16 research outputs found
Endosymbiotic Fungal Diversity and Dynamics of the Brown Planthopper across Developmental Stages, Tissues, and Sexes Revealed Using Circular Consensus Sequencing
Endosymbiotic fungi play an important role in the growth and development of insects. Understanding the endosymbiont communities hosted by the brown planthopper (BPH; Nilaparvata lugens Stål), the most destructive pest in rice, is a prerequisite for controlling BPH rice infestations. However, the endosymbiont diversity and dynamics of the BPH remain poorly studied. Here, we used circular consensus sequencing (CCS) to obtain 87,131 OTUs (operational taxonomic units), which annotated 730 species of endosymbiotic fungi in the various developmental stages and tissues. We found that three yeast-like symbionts (YLSs), Polycephalomyces prolificus, Ophiocordyceps heteropoda, and Hirsutella proturicola, were dominant in almost all samples, which was especially pronounced in instar nymphs 4–5, female adults, and the fat bodies of female and male adult BPH. Interestingly, honeydew as the only in vitro sample had a unique community structure. Various diversity indices might indicate the different activity of endosymbionts in these stages and tissues. The biomarkers analyzed using LEfSe suggested some special functions of samples at different developmental stages of growth and the active functions of specific tissues in different sexes. Finally, we found that the incidence of occurrence of three species of Malassezia and Fusarium sp. was higher in males than in females in all comparison groups. In summary, our study provides a comprehensive survey of symbiotic fungi in the BPH, which complements the previous research on YLSs. These results offer new theoretical insights and practical implications for novel pest management strategies to understand the BPH–microbe symbiosis and devise effective pest control strategies
Hydrodynamic analyses of an underwater fan-wing thruster in self-driving and towing experiments
Determination and comparison of alkaloids and triterpenes among tissues after oral administration of crude and processed Phellodendri Chinensis Cortex
Transcriptome and Metabolome Profiling Reveal the Resistance Mechanisms of Rice against Brown Planthopper
Brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens Stål, BPH) is one of the most destructive insects affecting rice production. To better understand the physiological mechanisms of how rice responds to BPH feeding, we analyzed BPH-induced transcriptomic and metabolic changes in leaf sheaths of both BPH-susceptible and -resistant rice varieties. Our results demonstrated that the resistant rice reduced the settling, feeding and growth of BPH. Metabolic analyses indicated that BPH infestation caused more drastic overall metabolic changes in the susceptible variety than the resistant rice. Differently accumulated metabolites (DAMs) belonging to flavonoids were downregulated in the susceptible rice but upregulated in resistant variety. Transcriptomic analyses revealed more differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in susceptible rice than resistant rice, and DEGs related to stimulus were significantly upregulated in resistant rice but downregulated in susceptible rice. Combined analyses of transcriptome and metabolome showed that many DEGs and DAMs were enriched in phenylpropane biosynthesis, flavonoid biosynthesis, and plant hormone signal transduction. We conducted correlation analyses of DEGs and DAMs in these pathways and found a high correlation between DEGs and DAMs. Then, we found that the contents of endogenous indole 3-acetic acid (IAA) in resistant rice was lower than that of susceptible rice after BPH feeding, while the salicylic acid (SA) content was the opposite. For functional analysis, an exogenous application of IAA decreased rice resistance to BPH, but the exogenous application of SA increased resistance. In addition, biochemical assessment and quantitative PCR analysis showed that the lignin content of resistant accession was constitutively higher than in susceptible accession. By adding epigallocatechin, the substrate of anthocyanidin reductase (ANR), to the artificial diet decreased the performance of BPH. We first combined a transcriptome-metabolome-wide association study (TMWAS) on rice resistance to BPH in this study. We demonstrated that rice promoted resistance to BPH by inducing epigallocatechin and decreasing IAA. These findings provided useful transcriptomic and metabolic information for understanding the rice-BPH interactions
Potential Metabolic Activation of a Representative C4-Alkylated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Retene (1-Methyl-7-isopropyl-phenanthrene) Associated with the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in Human Hepatoma (HepG2) Cells
Exposure to petrogenic polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons (PPAHs)
in the food chain is the major human health hazard associated with
the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. C4-Phenanthrenes are representative
PPAHs present in the crude oil and could contaminate the seafood.
We describe the metabolism of a C4-phenanthrene regioisomer retene
(1-methyl-7-isopropyl-phenanthrene) in human HepG2 cells as a model
for metabolism in human hepatocytes. Retene because of its sites of
alkylation cannot be metabolized to a diol-epoxide. The structures
of the metabolites were identified by HPLC-UV-fluorescence detection
and LC–MS/MS. O-Monosulfonated-retene-catechols were discovered
as signature metabolites of the ortho-quinone pathway of PAH activation
catalyzed by aldo-keto reductases. We also found evidence for the
formation of bis-ortho-quinones where the two dicarbonyl groups were
present on different rings of retene. The identification of O-monosulfonated-retene-catechol
and O-bismethyl-O-monoglucuronosyl-retene-bis-catechol supports metabolic
activation of retene by P450 and aldo-keto reductase isozymes followed
by metabolic detoxification of the ortho-quinone through interception
of redox cycling by catechol-O-methyltransferase, uridine 5′-diphospho-glucuronosyltransferase,
and sulfotransferase isozymes. We propose that catechol conjugates
could be used as biomarkers of human exposure to retene resulting
from oil spills
Sliced Magnetic Polyacrylamide Hydrogel with Cell-Adhesive Microarray Interface: A Novel Multicellular Spheroid Culturing Platform
Cell-adhesive
properties are of great significance to materials serving as extracellular
matrix mimics. Appropriate cell-adhesive property of material interface
can balance the cell–matrix interaction and cell–cell
interaction and can promote cells to form 3D structures. Herein, a
novel magnetic polyacrylamide (PAM) hydrogel fabricated via combining
magnetostatic field induced magnetic nanoparticles assembly and hydrogel
gelation was applied as a multicellular spheroids culturing platform.
When cultured on the cell-adhesive microarray interface of sliced
magnetic hydrogel, normal and tumor cells from different cell lines
could rapidly form multicellular spheroids spontaneously. Furthermore,
cells which could only form loose cell aggregates in a classic 3D
cell culture model (such as hanging drop system) were able to be promoted
to form multicellular spheroids on this platform. In the light of
its simplicity in fabricating as well as its effectiveness in promoting
formation of multicellular spheroids which was considered as a prevailing
tool in the study of the microenvironmental regulation of tumor cell
physiology and therapeutic problems, this composite material holds
promise in anticancer drugs or hyperthermia therapy evaluation in
vitro in the future
Sliced Magnetic Polyacrylamide Hydrogel with Cell-Adhesive Microarray Interface: A Novel Multicellular Spheroid Culturing Platform
Cell-adhesive
properties are of great significance to materials serving as extracellular
matrix mimics. Appropriate cell-adhesive property of material interface
can balance the cell–matrix interaction and cell–cell
interaction and can promote cells to form 3D structures. Herein, a
novel magnetic polyacrylamide (PAM) hydrogel fabricated via combining
magnetostatic field induced magnetic nanoparticles assembly and hydrogel
gelation was applied as a multicellular spheroids culturing platform.
When cultured on the cell-adhesive microarray interface of sliced
magnetic hydrogel, normal and tumor cells from different cell lines
could rapidly form multicellular spheroids spontaneously. Furthermore,
cells which could only form loose cell aggregates in a classic 3D
cell culture model (such as hanging drop system) were able to be promoted
to form multicellular spheroids on this platform. In the light of
its simplicity in fabricating as well as its effectiveness in promoting
formation of multicellular spheroids which was considered as a prevailing
tool in the study of the microenvironmental regulation of tumor cell
physiology and therapeutic problems, this composite material holds
promise in anticancer drugs or hyperthermia therapy evaluation in
vitro in the future