Diversity in life history of queen and worker honey bees, Apis mellifera L.

Ying Wang,Lan-Ting Ma,Baohua Xu 한국응용곤충학회 2015 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.18 No.2

Queen and worker European honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) have similar growth trends but differ greatly in their morphology, physiology, function and developmental timeline. Here, the life history of queen and worker bees was characterized, and reference pictures are provided. The developmental rate of workers was found to differ as much as 3 days, even if the two types of bees were laid within 12 h of each other. We also present some interesting phenomena with regards to the developmental stages of queen and worker bees.

Alterations in protein and amino acid metabolism in honeybees (Apis mellifera) fed different L-leucine diets during the larval stage

Lan-Ting Ma,Ying Wang,Weixing Zhang,HongfangWang,Zhenguo Liu,Baohua Xu 한국응용곤충학회 2016 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.19 No.3

L-Leucine is an important factor for growth and development in animals. However, very little is known about the nutritional role and physiological function of L-leucine in honeybees. In this study,we determined the effects of Lleucine supplementation on protein synthesis and amino acid balance in honeybee larvae. First instar larvaewere fed different L-leucine diets (6.45, 8.45 and 10.45 mg/g) during the entire larval stage. After the larvae egested urate crystals, we analyzed the protein and amino acid metabolism indexes in the larvae. There was little effect of L-leucine on larval body weight and body protein content, but the hemolymph protein concentrations were higher in 8.45 and 10.45 mg/g groups than 6.45 mg/g group. Compared to the 6.45 mg/g group, L-leucine significantly increased the contents of Ala, Leu, Lys and Met in 8.45 mg/g group and continued to be increased in 10.45 mg/g group. L-Leucine affected many TOR signaling pathway- and L-leucine metabolism-related genes, including tor, 4Ebp1, bcaat et al. Moreover, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activities as well as the triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TCHO), uric acid (UA) and urea nitrogen (URER) contents in haemolymph were significantly different among treatments. These results suggested that many factors involved in the metabolism of L-leucine and larval hemolymph play important roles in honeybee protein synthesis and amino acid balance.

Molecular cloning and characterization under different stress conditions of insulin-like peptide 2 gene (AccILP-2) from Apis cerana cerana

Xuepeng Chi,Wei Wei,Weixing Zhang,HongfangWang,Zhenguo Liu,Baohua Xu 한국응용곤충학회 2018 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.21 No.2

Insulin-like peptide 2 is an important gene in the insulin/insulin-like signaling pathway. The insulin-like peptide 2 gene (ILP-2) appears to play a key role in metabolism, growth, reproduction, stress resistance and aging. In this study, we isolated and characterized an ILP-2 gene from Apis cerana cerana known as AccILP-2. The full-length AccILP-2 cDNA is 494 bp and contains a 222-bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a protein of 73 amino acids with a calculated molecular weight of 8.706 kDa and an isoelectric point of 9.02. Multiple sequence alignment revealed that AccILP-2 shares high identity with ILP genes from Apis mellifera, Apis florea, Bombus terrestris, Eufriesea mexicana and Dufourea novaeangliae and contains a typical IlGF-insulin-bombyxin-like domain. Quantitative PCR analysis indicated that the greatest expression of AccILP-2 was observed in the muscles of adult workers. Expression analysis results also indicated that AccILP-2 expression was greatest during the dark-eye developmental period. Furthermore, expression of the AccILP-2 transcript was induced by environmental stressors, including exposure to 4 °C, ultraviolet light, H2O2, heavy metals (HgCl2 and CdCl2) and pesticides (dichlorvos, paraquat and cyhalothrin). However, AccILP-2 expression was downregulated at 44 °C. In conclusion, these results suggested that AccILP-2 might play an important role in the response to abiotic stress. We expect that our study will promote future research on the function of the insulin/insulin-like signaling pathway.

Molecular characterization and immunohistochemical localization of a mitogen-activated protein kinase, Accp38b, from Apis cerana cerana

Zhang, Liang,Meng, Fei,Li, Yuzhen,Kang, Mingjiang,Guo, Xingqi,Xu, Baohua Korean Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biol 2012 BMB Reports Vol.45 No.5

The p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) is involved in various processes, including stress responses, development, and differentiation. However, little information on p38 MAPK in insects is available. In this study, a p38 MAPK gene, $Accp38b$, was isolated from $Apis$ $cerana$ $cerana$ and characterized. The quantitative real-time PCR (Q-PCR) analysis revealed that $Accp38b$ was induced by multiple stressors. Notably, the expression of $Accp38b$ was relatively higher in the pupae phase than in other developmental phases. During the pupae phase, Accp38b expression was higher in the thorax than in the head and abdomen and higher in the fat body than in the muscle and midgut. Immunohistochemisty showed significant positive staining of Accp38b in sections from the brain, eyes, fat body, and midgut of $A.$ $cerana$ $cerana$. These results suggest that Accp38b may play a crucial role in stress responses and have multiple aspects function during development.

The Diet Imbalance and Its Corrective Action in Chinese Athletes

Yang, ZeYi,Zhou, Lili,Yi, Muqing,Wang, Qirong,Gao, Hong,Xu, BaoHua,Qiao, Li,Chen, Jidi,Huang, Yuan,He, Cong,Wu, Wei,Sun, Nan,Chen, Rui 한국체육무용국제교류학회 2001 한국체육무용국제교류학회지 Vol.7 No.-

Diet is the most important substantial base to ensure athletes nutrients needs and maintain the performance. It is important for the Olympic Gold Medal Strategy. An athlete is like a racing car. Therere two key factors for the car to run faster: the engine and the gasoline. The physical components decide the engines highest power while the diet is like the gasoline the better quality of the gasoline is, the faster the urns. It is inconsistent between the importance of diet for competitive sports and the ubiquity of diet imbalance. It will influence the training efficiency and the recovery after training for a long time, and consequently hinder the improvement of the performance.

Supragingival Plaque Microbial Community Analysis of Children with Halitosis^s

( Wen Ren ),( Qun Zhang ),( Xuenan Liu ),( Shuguo Zheng ),( Lili Ma ),( Feng Chen ),( Tao Xu ),( Baohua Xu ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2016 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.26 No.12

As one of the most complex human-associated microbial habitats, the oral cavity harbors hundreds of bacteria. Halitosis is a prevalent oral condition that is typically caused by bacteria. The aim of this study was to analyze the microbial communities and predict functional profiles in supragingival plaque from healthy individuals and those with halitosis. Ten preschool children were enrolled in this study; five with halitosis and five without. Supragingival plaque was isolated from each participant and 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing was used to identify the microbes present. Samples were primarily composed of Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Fusobacteria, and Candidate phylum TM7. The α and β diversity indices did not differ between healthy and halitosis subjects. Fifteen operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were identified with significantly different relative abundances between healthy and halitosis plaques, and included the phylotypes of Prevotella sp., Leptotrichia sp., Actinomyces sp., Porphyromonas sp., Selenomonas sp., Selenomonas noxia, and Capnocytophaga ochracea. We suggest that these OTUs are candidate halitosis-associated pathogens. Functional profiles were predicted using PICRUSt, and nine level-3 KEGG Orthology groups were significantly different. Hub modules of co-occurrence networks implied that microbes in halitosis dental plaque were more highly conserved than microbes of healthy individuals` plaque. Collectively, our data provide a background for the oral microbiota associated with halitosis from supragingival plaque, and help explain the etiology of halitosis.

Exploring the oral microflora of preschool children

Wen Ren,Qun Zhang,Xuenan Liu,Shuguo Zheng,Lili Ma,Feng Chen,Tao Xu,Baohua Xu 한국미생물학회 2017 The journal of microbiology Vol.55 No.7

The oral cavity is one of the most important and complicated habitats in our body and supports diverse microbial communities. In this study, we aimed to determine the bacterial diversity and composition of various oral micro-niches. Samples were collected from supragingival plaque, saliva, and tongue coating from 10 preschool children (30 samples total). 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing dataset generated 314,639 clean reads with an average of 10,488 ± 2,787 reads per sample. The phyla Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Fusobacteria were predominant, accounting for more than 90% of the total sequences. We found the highest α diversity, microbial richness, and evenness in plaque, compared with saliva and tongue coating. Plaque was also distinguished from saliva and tongue coating by phylogenetic distances (weighted UniFrac). Taxa with different relative abundances were further identified, confirming the existence of microbial differences across the three niches. Core microbiomes were defined of each niche; however, only a small proportion of operational taxonomic units (8.07%) were shared by the three niches. Coaggregation between Actinomyces spp. and Streptococcus spp. and other correlations among periodontal pathogens, such as Prevotella, Fusobacteria, Capnocytophaga, and Tannerella, were shown by a co-occurrence network. In summary, our study provides a framework of oral microbial communities in the population of preschool children as a baseline for further studies of oral diseases related to microbes.