Wolbachia infection in six species of gall wasps and their parasitoids

Zhao Gao-Zhi,Zhu Teng-Ran,Zeng Yang,Zhu Dao-Hong 한국응용곤충학회 2021 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.24 No.1

Wolbachia are endosymbiotic bacteria that are widely present in nematodes and arthropods and sometimes have a significant impact on the evolution, ecology, and biology of their hosts. The co-occurrence of Wolbachia within both Cynipid gall wasps and their parasitoids has rarely been studied. In this study, we report the occurrence of six species of gall wasps and 10 species of their parasitoids in central China. Wolbachia detection using the wsp gene showed that Wolbachia infected two species of gall wasps as well as their parasitoids, indicating that horizontal transmission of Wolbachia occurs between gall wasps and their parasitoids. Given that parasitoids will kill their hosts, Wolbachia may be horizontally transferred from gall wasps to their parasitoids. Using multilocus sequence typing (MLST) analysis, five new strains of Wolbachia were identified, all of which belonged to su pergroup A. The strains of Wolbachia that infected gall wasps were not the same as those that infected their parasitoids. This result indicated that Wolbachia may evolve independently in parasitoids after they have been transferred from the host gall wasps.

Effects of tryptophan and phenylalanine on tryptophol production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae revealed by transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses

Gong Xiaowei,Luo Huajun,Hong Liu,Wu Jun,Wu Heng,Song Chunxia,Zhao Wei,Han Yi,Dao Ya,Zhang Xia,Zhu Donglai,Luo Yiyong 한국미생물학회 2022 The journal of microbiology Vol.60 No.8

Tryptophol (TOL) is a metabolic derivative of tryptophan (Trp) and shows pleiotropic effects in humans, plants and microbes. In this study, the effect of Trp and phenylalanine (Phe) on TOL production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae was determined, and a systematic interpretation of TOL accumulation was offered by transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses. Trp significantly promoted TOL production, but the output plateaued (231.02−266.31 mg/L) at Trp concentrations ≥ 0.6 g/L. In contrast, Phe reduced the stimulatory effect of Trp, which was strongly dependent on the Phe concentration. An integrated genomic, transcriptomic, and metabolomic analysis revealed that the effect of Trp and Phe on TOL production was mainly related to the transamination and decarboxylation of the Ehrlich pathway. Additionally, other genes, including thiamine regulon genes (this), the allantoin catabolic genes dal1, dal2, dal4, and the transcriptional activator gene aro80, may play important roles. These findings were partly supported by the fact that the thi4 gene was involved in TOL production, as shown by heterologous expression analysis. To the best of our knowledge, this novel biological function of thi4 in S. cerevisiae is reported here for the first time. Overall, our findings provide insights into the mechanism of TOL production, which will contribute to TOL production using metabolic engineering strategies.

Effects of physical and social experiences and octopamine receptor agonist on fighting behavior of male crickets Velarifictorus aspersus (Orthoptera: Gryllidae)

Wei-Nan Kang,Yang Zeng,Dao-Hong Zhu 한국응용곤충학회 2018 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.21 No.2

Fighting commonly occurs among animals and is very important for resolving conflicts between conspecific individuals over limited resources. The plasticity of fighting strategies and neurobiological mechanisms underlying fighting behavior of insects are not fully understood. In the present study, we examined whether physical and social experiences affected the aggressiveness of males of the cricket Velarifictorus aspersus Walker, and whether an octopamine (OA) receptor agonist could affected the aggressiveness of males exposed to different experiences. We found that flight and winning a fight significantly enhanced male aggressiveness, while losing a fight significantly suppressed male aggressiveness, consistent with the findings of existing studies on other cricket species. We also found that female presence had a stronger enhancing effect on male aggressiveness than flight or winning a fight. These findings demonstrated that physical and social experiences can affect the fighting behavior of male V. aspersus. Topical application of a 0.15M solution of an OA receptor agonist (chlordimeform, CDM) significantly increased male aggression level, suggesting that OA may play an important role as a neuromodulator in controlling fighting behavior of males of this species. Despite displaying a significantly higher aggression level (level 5 or 6), CDM-treated losers did not escalate to physical combat, while fights between courting males usually resulted in physical escalation. It is likely that fighting behavior is only partly regulated by OA, and additional regulatory pathways may be involved in achieving physical combat.

Development of new microsatellite loci for wing dimorphic crickets Velarifictorus aspersus and their cross-utility in other Gryllidae species

Zeng Yang,Zhou Ze-Lin,He Yi-Yuan,Zhu Dao-Hong 한국응용곤충학회 2021 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.24 No.2

Microsatellite markers have been used extensively in studies of sperm competition and the genetic diversity of organisms. In the present study, we performed transcriptome sequencing for Velarifictorus aspersus and developed simple sequence repeat markers to identify valuable markers for genetic studies. The average total length of the V. aspersus transcriptome sequence was 7.70 Gb and it contained 7878 microsatellite loci. Sixty-four microsat ellite loci were randomly selected for primer design and 39 loci were successfully amplified, among which 23 loci were polymorphic. The microsatellites were also tested in six other species from the Gryllidae family. Among the species belonging to the genus Velarifictorus, 22 loci were amplified in Velarifictorus micado, eight loci in Velarifictorus ornatus, and 3–6 loci in the other four cricket species.

Multivariate Analysis of Molecular Indicators for Postoperative Liver Metastasis in Colorectal Cancer Cases

Qian, Li-Yuan,Li, Ping,Li, Xiao-Rong,Chen, Dao-Jin,Zhu, Shai-Hong Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.8

Aims: To explore the relationship between various molecular makers and liver metastasis of colorectal cancer (CRC). Method: Using immunohistochemistry, protein expression of CEA, nm23, c-met, MMP2, COX-2, VEGF, EGFR, and CD44 was assessed in 80 CRC cases. The Chi-square test and logistic regression were performed to analyze the relationship between these indicators and CRC liver metastasis. Results: There were significant differences in expression of CEA, MMP2, CD44, VEGF and EGFR between the liver metastasis and non metastasis groups (P < 0.05); no significant differences were noted for nm23, c-met, and COX-2 expression. Logistic regression analysis showed that only CEA, VEGF, and EGFR entered into the regression equation, and had significant correlations with CRC liver metastasis (${\alpha}$ inclusion= 0.10, ${\alpha}$ elimination = 0.15, R2 = 0.718). Conclusions: Combination detection of CEA, VEGF, and EGFR may be an effective means to predict CRC liver metastasis. Nm23, c-met, MMP2, COX-2, and CD44, in contrast, are not suitable as prognostic markers.

The diversity, recombination and horizontal transmission of Wolbachia in spiders in China

Yang Xiao-Hui,Gong Yu-Hui,Xu Xiang,Yin Hai-Qiang,Zhu Dao-Hong 한국응용곤충학회 2021 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.24 No.3

Wolbachia are maternally inherited endosymbiotic bacteria. These intracellular bacteria are common in ar thropods and could manipulate host reproduction in diverse ways, such as feminization, parthenogenesis, male killing and cytoplasmic incompatibility. In spiders, infection by Wolbachia has been found in a total of 99 species belonging to 62 genera and 17 families. Furthermore, recent studies analyzed the phylogeny of Wolbachia in Hylyphantes graminicola, 2 cave spiders and Agelenopsis species using multilocus sequence typing (MLST) approach. However, the diversity of Wolbachia strains determined by MLST in spiders from China is still largely unknown. In this study, we collected 1153 spider individuals from Mangshan in China and screened for Wolbachia in 975 individuals representing 68 spider species belonging to 45 genera of 16 families. We analyzed the phylogenetic relationship between Wolbachia and their host spiders by MLST approach. We found novel infections of Wol bachia in 1 family, 9 genera and 20 species of spiders. We found 13 new Wolbachia strains and suggest that group A is more common than group B in Wolbachia that infect spiders. Our results revealed three recombination events of the concatenated multilocus sequences in Wolbachia that infect spiders. Furthermore, our results demonstrated the phylogenetic incongruence between Wolbachia and spiders, suggesting the horizontal transmission of Wol bachia in spiders. We suggest that recombination and horizontal transmission may play an important role in the diversity and evolution of Wolbachia in spiders.