Project description:Loss of flight is recurrently observed in flying species and markedly abates threats to human health and agricultural production posed by flying pests. However, our understanding of the flight organs involved remains limited. The silkworm Bombyx mori, a lepidopteran model insect, loses flight most recently, while the Bombyx mandarina capable of flight, therefore it is a good model for studying flight loss. Here, we represent the first description of the spatiotemporal architecture of Bombyx flight organs. We demonstrated that the weakened cellular function of NFDCs and FECs determining the flight energy and wing vein and flight muscle development largely result in flight loss in B. mori, and single-cell analyses of cotton bollworm flight organs and RNA interference (RNAi) of key genes validated these findings, and the cellular and molecular determinants of flight may be conserved across Lepidoptera. These findings will contribute to the understanding of flight loss encountered in flying species.
Project description:Loss of flight is recurrently observed in flying species and markedly abates threats to human health and agricultural production posed by flying pests. However, our understanding of the flight organs involved remains limited. The silkworm Bombyx mori, a lepidopteran model insect, loses flight most recently, while the Bombyx mandarina capable of flight, therefore it is a good model for studying flight loss. Here, we represent the first description of the spatiotemporal architecture of Bombyx flight organs. We demonstrated that the weakened cellular function of NFDCs and FECs determining the flight energy and wing vein and flight muscle development largely result in flight loss in B. mori, and single-cell analyses of cotton bollworm flight organs and RNA interference (RNAi) of key genes validated these findings, and the cellular and molecular determinants of flight may be conserved across Lepidoptera. These findings will contribute to the understanding of flight loss encountered in flying species.
Project description:Loss of flight is recurrently observed in flying species and markedly abates threats to human health and agricultural production posed by flying pests. However, our understanding of the flight organs involved remains limited. The silkworm Bombyx mori, a lepidopteran model insect, loses flight most recently, while the Bombyx mandarina capable of flight, therefore it is a good model for studying flight loss. Here, we represent the first description of the spatiotemporal architecture of Bombyx flight organs. We demonstrated that the weakened cellular function of NFDCs and FECs determining the flight energy and wing vein and flight muscle development largely result in flight loss in B. mori, and single-cell analyses of cotton bollworm flight organs and RNA interference (RNAi) of key genes validated these findings, and the cellular and molecular determinants of flight may be conserved across Lepidoptera. These findings will contribute to the understanding of flight loss encountered in flying species.
Project description:Expression profiling of brains of free-flying forager bees and hive-restricted bees that rushed toward the hive entrance when the screen was removed, apparently to attempt to forage.
Project description:Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with a high variability of age at onset, disease severity, and progression. This suggests that other factors, including genetic, environ-mental, or biological factors, are at play in PD. Loss of PINK1 causes a recessive form of PD and is typically fully penetrant; however, it features a wide range in disease onset, further supporting the existence of protective factors, endogenous or exogenous, to play a role. Loss of Pink1 in Drosophila melanogaster results in locomotion deficits, also observed in PINK1-related PD in humans. In flies, Pink1 deficiency induces defects in the ability to fly; none-theless, around ten percent of the mutant flies are still capable of flying, indicating that advanta-geous factors affecting penetrance also exist in flies. Here, we aimed to identify the mechanisms underlying this reduced penetrance in Pink1-deficient flies. We performed genetic screening in pink1-mutant flies to identify RNA expression alterations affecting the flying ability. The most important biological processes involved were transcription-al and translational activities, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) regulation, and flagellated movement and microtubule organization. We validated 2 ER-related proteins, zonda, and windbeutel, to positively affect the flying ability of Pink1-deficient flies. Thus, our data suggest that these pro-cesses are involved in the reduced penetrance and that influencing them may be beneficial for Pink1 deficiency.
Project description:Nipah virus (NiV) is a highly pathogenic, negative strand RNA paramyxovirus that has recently emerged from flying foxes to cause serious human disease. To study the poorly-understood role of nonstructural NiV proteins in NiV pathogenesis, we generated recombinant viruse lacking the expression of accesory NiV C protein (NiV∆C).
Project description:Connecting genes to phenotypic traits in bacteria is often challenging because of a lack of environmental cues in laboratory settings. However, laboratory-based model ecosystems offer a means to better account for natural conditions compared to standard planktonic cultures, aiding in the linking of genotypes and phenotypes. Here, we present a simple, cost-effective, laboratory-based model ecosystem to study aerobic methane-oxidizing bacteria (methanotrophs). This system, referred to as the gradient syringe, is made by inoculating bacteria into semi-solid agarose held within a disposable syringe. Empty space at one end of the syringe is flushed with methane gas, while the other end is open to the atmosphere through a sterile filter. We show this system replicates the methane-oxygen counter gradient typically found in the natural soil environment of methanotrophs. Culturing the methanotroph Methylomonas sp. strain LW13 in this system produced a distinct horizontal band at the intersection of the counter gradient, which we discovered was due not to increased cell growth at this location but instead to an increased amount of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). We also discovered that different methanotrophic taxa formed EPS bands with distinct locations and morphologies when grown in the methane-oxygen counter gradient. By comparing transcriptomic data from LW13 growing within and surrounding this EPS band, we identified genes implicated in cell growth and EPS formation within the gradient syringe, and validated the involvement of these genes with knockout strains. This work highlights the use of a laboratory-based model ecosystem that more closely mimics the natural environment to uncover methanotroph phenotypes missing from standard planktonic cultures, and link these phenotypes their genetic determinants.