Project description:This experiment was used to determine the effect of a botanical insecticide upon gene expression profiles in Drosophila melanogaster. Adult female Drosophila (oregon-R strain) were treated with an ethylacetate extract of Piper nigrum (Piperaceae) seeds formulated in 99% ethanol. Treatment was topical, using a Potter's tower to administer a total of 2 mL of a 0.9mg/mL concentration. Control treatment was identical except flies were treated with 99% ethanol as a solvent control. Gene expression was studied four hours post-treatment. Keywords: insecticide response, stress-response
Project description:The purpose of this experiment was to assess the effect of a synergistic combination of natural pyrethrin and an ethylacetate extract of Piper nigrum seeds (a botanical insecticide). This effect was compared to the effects of P. nigrum or pyrethrin used alone. Due to the synergistic nature of the mixture, it was predicted that gene expression profiles in this treatment would reflect this effect. Keywords: insecticide response, stress-response
Project description:This experiment was used to determine the effect of a botanical insecticide upon gene expression profiles in Drosophila melanogaster. Adult female Drosophila (oregon-R strain) were treated with an ethylacetate extract of Piper nigrum (Piperaceae) seeds formulated in 99% ethanol. Treatment was topical, using a Potter's tower to administer a total of 2 mL of a 0.9mg/mL concentration. Control treatment was identical except flies were treated with 99% ethanol as a solvent control. Gene expression was studied four hours post-treatment. The design is a direct comparison between total RNA of treated and untreated insects. Sample size is two and two reverse label hybridizations were done. Each sample is a pool of 240 insects which received the same treatment simultaneously.
Project description:Piperonyl butoxide (PBO) is an insecticide synergist known to inhibit the activity of cytochrome P450 enzymes. PBO is currently used in many insecticide formulations, and has also been suggested as a pre-treatment in some pesticide applications. Little is known about how insects respond to PBO exposure at the gene transcription level. We have characterised the transcriptional response of the Drosophila melanogaster genome after PBO treatment, using both a custom designed “detox” microarray containing cytochrome P450 (P450), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and esterase genes, and a full genome microarray. We identify a subset of P450 and GST genes, along with additional metabolic genes, that are highly induced by PBO. The gene set is an extremely similar gene set to that induced by phenobarbital, a compound for which pre-treatment is known to confer tolerance to a range of insecticide compounds. The implications of the induction of gene families known to metabolise insecticides and the use of PBO in pest management programs are discussed. Keywords: Induction response after treatment by PBO
Project description:<p>Viral studies of Drosophila melanogaster typically involve virus injection with a small needle, causing post-injury a wounding/wound healing response, in addition to the effects of viral infection. However, the metabolic response to the needle injury is understudied, and many viral investigations neglect potential effects of this response. Furthermore, the wMel strain of the endosymbiont bacterium Wolbachia pipientis provides anti-viral protection in Drosophila. Here we used NMR-based metabolomics to characterise the acute wounding response in Drosophila and the relationship between wound healing and the Wolbachia strain wMel. The most notable response to wounding was found on the initial day of injury and lessened with time in both uninfected and Wolbachia infected flies. Metabolic changes in injured flies revealed evidence of inflammation, Warburg-like metabolism and the melanisation immune response as a response to wounding. In addition, at five days post injury Wolbachia infected injured flies were metabolically more similar to the uninjured flies than uninfected injured flies were at the same time point, indicating a positive interaction between Wolbachia infection and wound healing. This study is the first metabolomic characterisation of the wound response in Drosophila and its findings are crucial to the metabolic interpretation of viral experiments in Drosophila in both past and future studies.</p>
Project description:This study was designed to evaluate the proteome profiles of Piper nigrum when challenged with three different biotic stress. We have utilized a transcriptome-assisted protein identification pipeline coupled with a BLAST2GO annotation.