Project description:Fireflies and their fascinating luminous courtships have inspired centuries of scientific study. Today firefly luciferase is widely used in biotechnology, but the evolutionary origin of their bioluminescence remains unclear. To shed light on this long-standing question, we sequenced the genomes of two firefly species that diverged over 100 million-years-ago: the North American Photinus pyralis and Japanese Aquatica lateralis. To compare bioluminescent origins, we also sequenced the genome of a related click-beetle, the Caribbean Ignelater luminosus, with bioluminescent biochemistry near-identical to fireflies, but anatomically unique light organs, suggesting the intriguing but contentious hypothesis of parallel gains of bioluminescence. Our analyses support two independent gains of bioluminescence between fireflies and click-beetles, and provide new insights into the genes, chemical defenses, and symbionts that evolved alongside their luminous lifestyle.
Project description:Fireflies and their luminous courtships have inspired centuries of scientific study. Today firefly luciferase is widely used in biotechnology, but the evolutionary origin of bioluminescence within beetles remains unclear. To shed light on this long-standing question, we sequenced the genomes of two firefly species that diverged over 100 million-years-ago: the North American Photinus pyralis and Japanese Aquatica lateralis. To compare bioluminescent origins, we also sequenced the genome of a related click beetle, the Caribbean Ignelater luminosus, with bioluminescent biochemistry near-identical to fireflies, but anatomically unique light organs, suggesting the intriguing hypothesis of parallel gains of bioluminescence. Our analyses support independent gains of bioluminescence in fireflies and click beetles, and provide new insights into the genes, chemical defenses, and symbionts that evolved alongside their luminous lifestyle.
Project description:In this study, we characterized the fatty acid production in Neochloris aquatica at transcriptomics and biochemical levels under limiting, normal, and excess nitrate concentrations in different growth phases. At the stationary phase, N. aquatica mainly produced saturated fatty acids such as stearic acid under the limiting nitrate concentration, which is suitable for biodiesel production. However, it produced polyunsaturated fatty acids such as α-linolenic acid under the excess nitrate concentration, which has nutritional values as food supplements. In addition, RNA-seq was employed to identify genes and pathways that were being affected in N. aquatica for three growth phases in the presence of the different nitrate amounts. Genes that are responsible for the production of saturated fatty acids were upregulated in the cells grown under a limiting nitrogen amount while genes that are responsible for the production of polyunsaturated fatty acid were upregulated in the cells grown under excess nitrogen amount. Further analysis showed more genes differentially expressed (DEGs) at the loga- rithmic phase in all conditions while a relatively steady trend was observed during the transition from the logarithmic phase to the stationary phase under limiting and excess nitrogen. Our results provide a foundation for identifying developmentally important genes and understanding the biological processes in the different growth phases of the N. aquatica in terms of biomass and lipid production.