Abstract Background The brown planthopper ( Nilaparvata lugens ) is one of the most serious rice plant pests in Asia. N. lugens causes extensive rice damage by sucking rice phloem sap, which results in stunted plant growth and the transmission of plant viruses. Despite the importance of this insect pest, little is known about the immunological mechanisms occurring in this hemimetabolous insect species. Results In this study, we performed a genome- and transcriptome-wide analysis aiming at the immune-related genes. The transcriptome datasets include the N. lugens intestine, the developmental stage, wing formation, and sex-specific expression information that provided useful gene expression sequence data for the genome-wide analysis. As a result, we identified a large number of genes encoding N. lugens pattern recognition proteins, modulation proteins in the prophenoloxidase (proPO) activating cascade, immune effectors, and the signal transduction molecules involved in the immune pathways, including the Toll, Immune deficiency (Imd) and Janus kinase signal transducers and activators of transcription (JAK-STAT) pathways. The genome scale analysis revealed detailed information of the gene structure, distribution and transcription orientations in scaffolds. A comparison of the genome-available hemimetabolous and metabolous insect species indicate the differences in the immune-related gene constitution. We investigated the gene expression profiles with regards to how they responded to bacterial infections and tissue, as well as development and sex expression specificity. Conclusions The genome- and transcriptome-wide analysis of immune-related genes including pattern recognition and modulation molecules, immune effectors, and the signal transduction molecules involved in the immune pathways is an important step in determining the overall architecture and functional network of the immune components in N. lugens . Our findings provide the comprehensive gene sequence resource and expression profiles of the immune-related genes of N. lugens , which could facilitate the understanding of the innate immune mechanisms in the hemimetabolous insect species. These data give insight into clarifying the potential functional roles of the immune-related genes involved in the biological processes of development, reproduction, and virus transmission in N. lugens .
In this study, we aimed to better understand the difference between the functions of the two types of granulosa cells and sought to discover more key genes involved in follicle development and follicle selection. Herein, we separately collected pre-hierarchical follicle granulosa cells (PHGCs) and preovulatory follicle granulosa cells (POGCs) for RNA extraction; the transcriptomes of the two groups were compared via RNA-seq. A total of 5273 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between the PHGCs and POGCs; 2797 genes were up-regulated and 2476 were down-regulated in the PHGCs compared with the POGCs. A qPCR analysis confirmed that the expression patterns of 16 randomly selected DEGs were highly consistent with the RNA-seq results. In the POGCs, many of the genes with the most significant increase in expression were related to steroid hormone synthesis. In addition, the genes with the most significant decline in expression, including AMH and WT1, were related to the inhibition of steroid hormone synthesis. These results suggest that steroid hormones play a key role in follicle development. Furthermore, a Gene Ontology (GO) analysis revealed that these DEGs were mainly involved in the primary metabolic process, the carbohydrate metabolic process, the cellular process, ribosomes, the cytoplasm, and intracellular processes. A Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis showed that the DEGs were mainly enriched in steroid biosynthesis, the cell cycle, ribosomes, the TGF-beta signaling pathway, focal adhesion, and so on. We also observed the morphology of the follicles at different developmental stages, and the results showed that the thickness of the granular layer of the small yellow follicles (SYFs) decreased significantly with further development. In addition, we also found that the thickness of the granulosa layer of hens over 300 days old was significantly lower than that of 200-day-old hens. In short, these data indicate that the tissue morphology and function of granulosa cells change throughout follicle development.
Solid phase microextraction(SPME) was used to extract volatiles from banana pseudostems in the following four physiological states:fresh,rotten but not fed on by beetles,rotten and fed on by beetles,and fresh and fed on by beetles.The extracted volatiles were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS).A total of 10 components were identified from volatiles extracted from fresh and rotten pseudostems that had been fed on by beetles,whereas a total of 11 components were identified from extracts from rotten pseudostems and fresh pseudostems that had been fed on by beetles.The extracted volatiles included hydrocarbon,esters,ketone and heterocyclic compounds,the relative abundance of which differed with pseudostems' physiological state.The species and relative abundance of extracted volatiles were closely related to damage inflicted by the banana pseudostem weevil.There was a corresponding reduction in the relative content of the common component allo-ocimene after Odoiporus longicollis Olivier infestation.The behavioral responses of male and female O.longicollis to extracted volatiles from banana pseudostems in each of the four physiological states were observed with a double pitfall olfactometer.Both male and female O.longicollis were attracted to the volatiles from banana pseudostems in different physiological states.Compared to fresh pseudostems,beetle feeding activity and rottenness enhanced the attractiveness of the extracted volatiles from banana pseudostems to male and female O.longicollis.
Abstract Colon cancer is commonly regarded as hormone-independent. However, there have been reports suggesting the involvement of sex hormones in colon cancer development. Nevertheless, the role of hormones from the hypothalamus-hypophysis axis in colitis-associated colorectal cancer (CAC) remains uncertain. In this study, we observed a significant reduction in the expression of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) in colon samples from both colitis and CAC patients. To investigate further, we generated mice with an intestinal epithelium cell (IEC)-specific knockout of OXTR. These mice exhibited markedly increased susceptibility to dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis and DSS/Azoxymethane (AOM)-induced CAC compared to wild-type mice. Our findings indicate that OXTR depletion impaired the inner mucus of the colon epithelium. Mechanistically, oxytocin was found to regulate MUC2 maturation through B3GNT7-mediated fucosylation. Interestingly, we observed a positive correlation between B3GNT7 expression and OXTR expression in human colitis and CAC colon samples. Moreover, the administration of oxytocin significantly alleviated tumor burden. Hence, our study unveils oxytocin’s promising potential as an affordable and effective therapeutic intervention for individuals affected by colitis and CAC.
To study the gene expression profile during appressorium developmental process of Magnaphorthe grisea strain Y34 isolated from the rich area of Asia cultivated rice resources, expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and cDNA array analysis were performed. A total of 4756 tentative unique transcripts (TUTs) were obtained from 13 057 ESTs of the 3′ ends of the strain, which was approximately 25% of the total M. grisea EST sequences deposited in the GenBank database. Approximately 84% of these TUTs matched with the published draft genome sequences of strain 70-15. Southern analyses with 12 TUT probes revealed no obvious DNA polymorphism among strains 70-15, Guy11 and Y34. A cDNA array with 4108 TUTs was used to monitor gene expression patterns during appressorium development of M. grisea. Compared with ungerminated conidia, the number of up-regulated and down-regulated genes was almost consistent at any time-points of 2, 8, 20 and 30 h during appressorium development. More genes were differentially expressed during appressorium maturation (20 and 30 h) than during appressorium induction (2 h) and formation (8 h). During appressorium maturation (20–30 h), genes generally seemed to be most actively expressed.
Fibroin and sericin are synthesized in silk gland of the silkworm(Bombyx mori)where various serine protease inhibitors reside.In order to understand mechanism of silk protein synthesis and protection in silkworm,semi-quantitative RT-PCR was employed to investigate the expression patterns of silkworm serine protease inhibitor gene serpin16 at different developmental stages and in various tissues/organs of the 5th day larvae of the 5th instar.The results showed that serpin16 was specifically expressed in silk gland from the 4th moulting to the 6th day of the 5th instar.Its transcriptional level in anterior region of the middle silk gland was the highest.The transcriptional levels in middle and posterior regions of the middle silk gland were relatively lower.Prokaryotic expression vector pGEX-4T-1-serpin16 was further constructed and introduced into Escherichia coli BL21(DE3).Fusion protein was expressed successfully in the form of inclusion body through induction by IPTG,and further purified to obtain the single target protein.The exclusive expression pattern of silkworm serpin16 indicated that it is closely related with the process of silk spinning and may play an important role in maintaining the homeostasis for silk secretion in the silk gland.
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