Project description:Is there a correlation between miRNA diversity and levels of organismic complexity? Exhibiting extraordinary levels of morphological and developmental complexity, insects are the most diverse animal class on earth. Their evolutionary success was in particular shaped by the innovation of holometabolan metamorphosis in endopterygotes. Previously, miRNA evolution had been linked to morphological complexity, but astonishing variation in the currently available miRNA complements of insects made this link unclear. To address this issue, we sequenced the miRNA complement of the hemimetabolan Blattella germanica and reannotated that of two other hemimetabolan species, Locusta migratoria and Acyrthosiphon pisum, and of four holometabolan species, Apis mellifera, Tribolium castaneum, Bombyx mori and Drosophila melanogaster. Our analyses show that the variation of insect miRNAs is an artefact mainly resulting from poor sampling and inaccurate miRNA annotation, and that insects share a conserved microRNA toolkit of 65 families exhibiting very low variation. For example, the evolutionary shift toward a complete metamorphosis was accompanied only by the acquisition of three and the loss of one miRNA families.
Project description:RNA interference (RNAi) functions as the major host antiviral defense in insects, while less is understood about how to utilize antiviral RNAi in controlling viral infection in insects. Enoxacin belongs to the family of synthetic antibacterial compounds based on a fluoroquinolone skeleton that has been previously found to enhance RNAi in mammalian cells. In this study, we showed that enoxacin efficiently inhibited viral replication of Drosophila C virus (DCV) and Cricket paralysis virus (CrPV) in cultured Drosophila cells. Enoxacin promoted the loading of Dicer-2-processed virus-derived siRNA into the RNA-induced silencing complex, thereby enhancing antiviral RNAi response in infected cells. Moreover, enoxacin treatment elicited an RNAi-dependent in vivo protective efficacy against DCV or CrPV challenge in adult fruit flies. In addition, enoxacin also inhibited replication of flaviviruses, including Dengue virus and Zika virus, in Aedes mosquito cells in an RNAi-dependent manner. Together, our findings demonstrated that enoxacin can enhance RNAi in insects, and enhancing RNAi by enoxacin is an effective antiviral strategy against diverse viruses in insects, which may be exploited as a broad-spectrum antiviral agent to control vector transmission of arboviruses or viral diseases in insect farming.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of phytoplasma grown in plant (Chrysanthemum coronarium) and grown in insect (Macrosteles striifrons). Two-condition experiment, phytoplasma-infected plant and phytoplasma-infected insect. Biological replicates: 6 phytoplasma-infected plants and 6 phytoplasma-infected insects, independently grown and harvested. One replicate per array.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of phytoplasma grown in plant (Chrysanthemum coronarium) and grown in insect (Macrosteles striifrons). Two-condition experiment, phytoplasma-infected plant and phytoplasma-infected insect. Biological replicates: 4 phytoplasma-infected plants and 4 phytoplasma-infected insects, independently grown and harvested. One replicate per array.
Project description:We report the application of Chromatraps® Solid-State Chromatin Immunoprecipitation technology for epigenetic profiling of histone modifications in insects. Here, we present the optimised protocol and conditions of Chromatrap® kits for successful ChIP and high-throughput sequencing of established model species, Drosophila melanogaster and the emerging model for behavioural plasticity Nicrophorus vespilloides. We highlight successful ChIP-seq of Drosophila melanogaster (Oregon-R) of comparable quality to modENCODE data and present successful enrichment of histone marks for Nicrophorus vespilloides. The addition of this insect-based ChIP-seq protocol provides a set of optimal guidelines to aid streamline end-users epigenetic research focus and reduce experimental time.
Project description:Metagenetic analysis of the bacterial communities of edible insects from diverse rearing cycles and industrial production facilities
Project description:Single-base resolution DNA methylomes have been accomplished for both Arabidopsis and human cells which have high genome methylation levels by Illumina ultra-high-throughput bisulfite sequencing technology (MethylC-Seq). Here by combining MethylC-Seq and biological replicate strategies we generated single-base resolution methylome for the silkworm which has low genome methylation levels like other insects. Our conservative estimation showed that methylcytosines (mCs) accout for about 0.11% of genomic cytosines, exclusively in CG context. The CG methylation is significantly enriched in gene bodies and positively correlated with gene expression levels, suggesting its positive role in gene transcription in silkworms. However, the well-documented functions of methylation on promoters and rDNAs in plants and mammals do not seem to have effects in insects. Methylated genes are enriched in functions involved in cellular metabolism and biosynthesis. Small RNA (smRNA) loci are also significantly enriched in gene bodies, and moreover, the smRNA loci and the predicted target sites of microRNA have high level of CG methylation, indicating functional involvement of smRNAs in the genic methylation This first methylome for silkworms provides a foundation for further studies on the epigenetic gene regulation of silkworms’ or even insects’ gene methylation.
Project description:Gut microbiota comparation of Young mice (n=10), Old mice, Young_yFMT (Young mice 14 days after transplant feces from young mice, n=10) and Young_oFMT (Young mice 14 days after transplant feces from old mice, n=10), Antibiotic group (Cefazolin, n=8).
Project description:Single-base resolution DNA methylomes have been accomplished for both Arabidopsis and human cells which have high genome methylation levels by Illumina ultra-high-throughput bisulfite sequencing technology (MethylC-Seq). Here by combining MethylC-Seq and biological replicate strategies we generated single-base resolution methylome for the silkworm which has low genome methylation levels like other insects. Our conservative estimation showed that methylcytosines (mCs) accout for about 0.11% of genomic cytosines, exclusively in CG context. The CG methylation is significantly enriched in gene bodies and positively correlated with gene expression levels, suggesting its positive role in gene transcription in silkworms. However, the well-documented functions of methylation on promoters and rDNAs in plants and mammals do not seem to have effects in insects. Methylated genes are enriched in functions involved in cellular metabolism and biosynthesis. Small RNA (smRNA) loci are also significantly enriched in gene bodies, and moreover, the smRNA loci and the predicted target sites of microRNA have high level of CG methylation, indicating functional involvement of smRNAs in the genic methylation This first methylome for silkworms provides a foundation for further studies on the epigenetic gene regulation of silkworms’ or even insects’ gene methylation. Each silk gland of 5th instar larvae of two individuals (called Biological Replicate 1 and 2, respectively) of the silkworm (Bombyx mori) strain Dazao was ground into powder in liquid nitrogen. Half of the powder from each silk gland was used to extract total DNAs using DNeasy Blood & Tissue Kit (Qiagen) and another half was used to extract total RNAs using RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen). We sequenced bisulfite-treated total DNA extracted from the silk glands of the two individuals, using Illumina Ultra-High-Throughput Sequencing, generating the Single-Base Resolution Methylomes. To reveal functional consequences of gene body methylation, we generated expression profiles for the two individuals’ silk glands using Digital Gene Expression tag profiling (DGE) technology, which combines classic SAGE (Serial Analysis of Gene Expression) and Illumina ultra-high-throughput sequencing technology.