Comparative proteomic profiling reveals molecular characteristics associated with oogenesis and oocyte maturation during ovarian development of Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel)

Time-dependent expression of proteins in ovary is important to understand oogenesis in insects. Here, we profiled the proteomes of developing ovaries from Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) to obtain information about ovarian development with particular emphasis on differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) involved in oogenesis. A total of 4838 proteins were identified with an average peptide number of 8.15 and sequence coverage of 20.79%. Quantitative proteomic analysis showed that a total of 612 and 196 proteins were differentially expressed in developing and mature ovaries, respectively. Furthermore, 153, 196 and 59 potential target proteins were highly expressed in early, vitellogenic and mature ovaries and most tested DEPs had the similar trends consistent with the respective transcriptional profiles. These proteins were abundantly expressed in pre-vitellogenic and vitellogenic stages, including tropomyosin, vitellogenin, eukaryotic translation initiation factor, heat shock protein, importin protein, vitelline membrane protein, and chorion protein. Several hormone and signal pathway related proteins were also identified during ovarian development including piRNA, notch, insulin, juvenile, and ecdysone hormone signal pathways. This is the first report of a global ovary proteome of a tephritid fruit fly, and may contribute to understanding the complicate processes of ovarian development and exploring the potentially novel pest control targets

Reduced glutamine synthetase activity alters the fecundity of female Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel)

Glutamine synthetase (GS) is a key enzyme in glutamine synthesis and is associated with multiple physiological processes in insects, such as embryonic development, heat shock response, and fecundity regulation. However, little is known about the influence of GS on female fecundity in the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis. Based on the cloning of BdGSs, mitochondrial BdGSm and cytoplasmic BdGSc, we determined their expressions in the tissues of adult B. dorsalis. BdGSm was highly expressed in the fat body, while BdGSc was highly expressed in the head and midgut. Gene silencing by RNA interference against two BdGSs isoforms suppressed target gene expression at the transcriptional level, leading to a reduced ovarian size and lower egg production. The specific inhibitor L-methionine S-sulfoximine suppressed enzyme activity, but only the gene expression of BdGSm was suppressed. A similar phenotype of delayed ovarian development occurred in the inhibitor bioassay. Significantly lower expression of vitellogenin and vitellogenin receptor was observed when GS enzyme activity was suppressed. These data illustrate the effects of two GS genes on adult fecundity by regulating vitellogenin synthesis in different ways

Difference in Thermotolerance Between Green and Red Color Variants of the Japanese Sea Cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus Selenka: Hsp70 and Heat-Hardening Effect

We studied thermal tolerance limits, heat-hardening, and Hsp70 to elucidate the difference in thermotolerance between two color variants of the sea Cucumber Apostichopus japonicus. Green and Red variants Occupy different habitats and have different aestivation responses to high temperature in summer. In the absence of heat-hardening the variants showed no difference in the temperature at which 50% of the individuals died: Green 31.49 degrees C; Red, 31.39 degrees C. However. Green specimens acquired higher thermotolerance than Red after a prior Sublethal heat exposure. After 72 h of recovery from a heat-hardening treatment (30 degrees C for 2 h) the survival of Green variants was more than 50% and that of Red wits less than 5% when they were treated at 33 degrees C for 2 h. Levels of mRNA and protein for Hsp70 were significantly higher in Green than Red after the heat shock of 30 degrees C, and the stability of hsp70 mRNA of Green was significantly higher than that of Red. Our findings suggest that within the same species, different variants that have similar thermal limits in the absence of heat-hardening can acquire different thermotolerances after a prior sublethal heat shock. The difference in induced thermotolerance between Green and Red is closely related to the expression pattern of Hsp70, which was partly governed by the stability of hsp70 mRNA

RTHS of a BMD System

The building mass damper (BMD) system, which incorporates the concept of a tuned mass damper into a mid-story isolation system, has been demonstrated as an effective system for suppressing structural vibration due to earthquakes. The BMD system separates a building into a substructure, a control layer and a superstructure. By applying well-design parameters, the seismic responses of the superstructure and substructure of a building can be mitigated simultaneously. However, merely limited design parameters have been verified by shaking table testing because it is difficult to construct several sets of specimens with limited research funding. Therefore, real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS) may become an alternative to conduct parametric studies of the BMD system efficiently and economically. In this study, the BMD system is separated into a numerical substructure and an experimental substructure. The experimental substructure includes the control layer and the superstructure of the BMD system installed on a seismic shake table while the substructure is numerically simulated. Then, substructuring method of the BMD system is derived and the stability analysis considering the dynamics of the shake table is performed to realize the potential feasibility of RTHS for BMD systems. The stability margin is represented as an allowable mass ratio of the experimental substructure to the entire BMD system. Finally, RTHS of a simplified BMD system has been conducted to verify the stability margin in the laboratory. Phase-lead compensation and force correction are applied to RTHS in order to improve the accuracy of RTHS for the simplified BMD system

Tetra­aqua­{1-[(1H-1,2,3-benzotriazol-1-yl)meth­yl]-1H-1,2,4-triazole}sulfato­cadmium dihydrate

In the title complex, [Cd(SO4)(C9H8N6)(H2O)4]·2H2O, the CdII ion is six-coordinated by one N atom from a 1-[(1H-1,2,3-benzotriazol-1-yl)meth­yl]-1H-1,2,4-triazole ligand and by five O atoms from four water mol­ecules and one monodentate sulfate anion in a distorted octa­hedral geometry. The sulfate tetra­hedron is rotationally disordered over two positions in a 0.651 (12):0.349 (12) ratio. In the crystal, adjacent mol­ecules are linked through O—H⋯O and O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds into a three-dimensional network