Project description:Bark beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytinae) are pests of many forests around the world. The mountain pine beetle (MPB), Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, is a significant pest of western North American pine forests. The MPB is able to overcome the defences of pine trees through pheromone-assisted aggregation that results in a mass attack of host trees. These pheromones, both male and female produced, are believed to be biosynthesized in the midgut and/or fat body of these insects. We have used transcriptomics (RNA-seq) to identify transcripts differentially expressed between sexes and between tissues, with juvenile hormone III treatment, which is known to induce pheromone biosynthesis.
Project description:The gut microbiota, immune system, and enteric nervous system interact to regulate adult gut physiology. Yet the mechanisms establishing gut physiology during development remain unknown. We report that in developing zebrafish, enteroendocrine cells produced IL-22 in response to microbial signals before lymphocytes populate the gut. In larvae, IL-22 shaped the gut microbiota, increased Lactobacillaceae abundance and ghrelin expression to promote gut motility. Impaired motility and ghrelin expression were restored in il22-/- zebrafish by transfer of microbiota from wild-type zebrafish or by monoassociation with Lactobacillus plantarum. IL-22-deficient mice had impaired gut motility and reduced ghrelin expression in early life too, indicating a conserved function. Thus, before immune system maturation, enteroendocrine cells regulate early-life gut function by controlling the microbiota via IL-22.
2025-11-19 | GSE310343 | GEO
Project description:Seasonal shifts in cold tolerance and the composition of the gut microbiome of Dendroctonus valens LeConte occur concurrently