Hemolytic C-Type Lectin CEL-III from Sea Cucumber Expressed in Transgenic Mosquitoes Impairs Malaria Parasite Development

The midgut environment of anopheline mosquitoes plays an important role in the development of the malaria parasite. Using genetic manipulation of anopheline mosquitoes to change the environment in the mosquito midgut may inhibit development of the malaria parasite, thus blocking malaria transmission. Here we generate transgenic Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes that express the C-type lectin CEL-III from the sea cucumber, Cucumaria echinata, in a midgut-specific manner. CEL-III has strong and rapid hemolytic activity toward human and rat erythrocytes in the presence of serum. Importantly, CEL-III binds to ookinetes, leading to strong inhibition of ookinete formation in vitro with an IC50 of 15 nM. Thus, CEL-III exhibits not only hemolytic activity but also cytotoxicity toward ookinetes. In these transgenic mosquitoes, sporogonic development of Plasmodium berghei is severely impaired. Moderate, but significant inhibition was found against Plasmodium falciparum. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of stably engineered anophelines that affect the Plasmodium transmission dynamics of human malaria. Although our laboratory-based research does not have immediate applications to block natural malaria transmission, these findings have significant implications for the generation of refractory mosquitoes to all species of human Plasmodium and elucidation of mosquito–parasite interactions

Immature Seed Endosperm and Embryo Proteomics of the Lotus (Nelumbo Nucifera Gaertn.) by One-Dimensional Gel-Based Tandem Mass Spectrometry and a Comparison with the Mature Endosperm Proteome

Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) seed proteome has been the focus of our studies, and we have recently established the first proteome dataset for its mature seed endosperm. The current study unravels the immature endosperm, as well as the embryo proteome, to provide a comprehensive dataset of the lotus seed proteins and a comparison between the mature and immature endosperm tissues across the seed’s development. One-dimensional gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) linked with tandem mass spectrometry provided a protein inventory of the immature endosperm (122 non-redundant proteins) and embryo (141 non-redundant proteins) tissues. Comparing with the previous mature endosperm dataset (66 non-redundant proteins), a total of 206 non-redundant proteins were identified across all three tissues of the lotus seed. Results revealed some significant differences in proteome composition between the three lotus seed tissues, most notably between the mature endosperm and its immature developmental stage shifting the proteins from nutrient production to nutrient storage

Comprehensive Analysis of Wound-inducible Genes from the Nicotiana glutinosa Leaves Using a Full-length cDNA Microarray

Wound-indicible gene expression in the the Nicotiana glutinosa leaves was studied by using a microarray with 9600 full-length cDNAs. As a result, 86 genes were identified as wound-indicible genes in the N. glutinosa leaves, including those encoding defence related proteins, such as heat shock proteins, glutathione S-transferase, ascorbate peroxidase and non-specific lipid-transfer proteins. Among 86 genes, 15 genes including 11 hypothetical protein genes and 1 unknown protein genes encode unknown functional proteins. Although the translational products of these genes have not been characterized, they are potential candidates for defense-related proteins toward wounding. The cluster analysis classified the genes into 6 groups on the basis of their expression patterns. It is likely that genes clustered in the same groups may be co-regulated by common transcriptional factors and also translationial products belonging to the same clusters may share common functions in defence response to woundnig