Identification and expression profiling of neuropeptides and neuropeptide receptor genes in a natural enemy, .

Introduction: Neuropeptides and their receptors constitute diverse and abundant signal molecules in insects, primarily synthesized and released primarily from neurosecretory cells within the central nervous system Neuropeptides act as neurohormones and euromodulators, regulating insect behavior, lifecycle, and physiology by binding to receptors on cell surface. As a typical natural predator of agricultural pests, the lady beetle, , has been commercially mass-cultured and widely employed in pest management. Insect diapause is a physiological and ecological adaptative strategy acquired in adverse environments.

2'-O-methylation at internal sites on mRNA promotes mRNA stability.

2'-O-methylation (Nm) is a prominent RNA modification well known in noncoding RNAs and more recently also found at many mRNA internal sites. However, their function and base-resolution stoichiometry remain underexplored. Here, we investigate the transcriptome-wide effect of internal site Nm on mRNA stability.

Sequencing of N-methyl-deoxyadenosine at single-base resolution across the mammalian genome.

Although DNA N-methyl-deoxyadenosine (6mA) is abundant in bacteria and protists, its presence and function in mammalian genomes have been less clear. We present Direct-Read 6mA sequencing (DR-6mA-seq), an antibody-independent method, to measure 6mA at base resolution. DR-6mA-seq employs a unique mutation-based strategy to reveal 6mA sites as misincorporation signatures without any chemical or enzymatic modulation of 6mA.

Base-Resolution Sequencing Methods for Whole-Transcriptome Quantification of mRNA Modifications.

RNA molecules are not merely a combination of four bases of A, C, G, and U. Chemical modifications occur in almost all RNA species and play diverse roles in gene expression regulation. The abundant cellular RNAs, such as ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and transfer RNA (tRNA), are known to have the highest density of RNA modifications, which exert critical functions in rRNA and tRNA biogenesis, stability, and subsequent translation.

RNA Interference in the Egg Parasitoid, Trichogramma dendrolimi Matsumura.

The egg parasitoids, Trichogramma spp, are recognized as efficient biological control agents against various lepidopteran pests in agriculture and forests. The immature stages of Trichogramma offspring develop within the host egg, exhibiting remarkable diminutiveness (approximately 0.5 mm in adult length).

BID-seq for transcriptome-wide quantitative sequencing of mRNA pseudouridine at base resolution.

Pseudouridine (Ψ) is an abundant RNA modification that is present in and affects the functions of diverse non-coding RNA species, including rRNA, tRNA and small nuclear RNA. Ψ also exists in mammalian mRNA and probably exhibits functional roles; however, functional investigations of mRNA Ψ modifications in mammals have been hampered by the lack of a quantitative method that detects Ψ at base precision. We have recently developed bisulfite-induced deletion sequencing (BID-seq), which provides the community with a quantitative method to map RNA Ψ distribution transcriptome-wide at single-base resolution.

Base-resolution quantitative DAMM-seq for mapping RNA methylations in tRNA and mitochondrial polycistronic RNA.

The human AlkB family proteins, such as FTO and ALKBH5, are known to mediate RNA mA demethylation. However, although ALKBH7 localizes in mitochondria and affects metabolism, the detailed biological function and mechanism have remained unknown for years. We developed Demethylation-Assisted Multiple Methylation sequencing (DAMM-seq) to simultaneously detect N-methyladenosine (mA), N-methylcytidine (mC), N-methylguanosine (mG) and N,N-dimethylguanosine (mG) methylations in both steady-state RNA and nascent RNA, and discovered that human ALKBH7 demethylates mG and mA within mt-Ile and mt-Leu1 pre-tRNA regions, respectively, in mitochondrial polycistronic RNA.

Quantitative base-resolution sequencing technology for mapping pseudouridines in mammalian mRNA.

Posttranscriptional RNA modifications occur in almost all types of RNA in all life forms. As an abundant RNA modification in mammals, pseudouridine (Ψ) regulates diverse biological functions of different RNA species such as ribosomal RNA (rRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA), small nuclear RNA (snRNA), etc. However, the functional investigation of mRNA pseudouridine (Ψ) has been hampered by the lack of a quantitative method that can efficiently map Ψ transcriptome-wide.

The regulation of antiviral innate immunity through non-mA RNA modifications.

The post-transcriptional RNA modifications impact the dynamic regulation of gene expression in diverse biological and physiological processes. Host RNA modifications play an indispensable role in regulating innate immune responses against virus infection in mammals. Meanwhile, the viral RNAs can be deposited with RNA modifications to interfere with the host immune responses.

Male vitellogenin regulates gametogenesis through a testis-enriched big protein in Chrysopa pallens.

In insects, vitellogenin (Vg) is generally viewed as a female-specific protein. Its primary function is to supply nutrition to developing embryos. Here, we reported Vg from the male adults of a natural predator, Chrysopa pallens.

The identification and expression pattern of the sex determination genes and their sex-specific variants in the egg parasitoid Matsumura (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae).

wasps are egg parasitoids of agricultural lepidopteran pests. The sex of is determined by its ploidy as well as certain sex ratio distorters, such as the endosymbiotic bacteria spp. and the paternal sex ratio (PSR) chromosome.

Posterior concentration of during the early embryogenesis of the host dynamically shapes the tissue tropism of in host wasps.

Introduction: The bacterial endosymbiont, spp. induce thelytokous parthenogenesis in certain parasitoid wasps, such as the egg parasitoid wasps spp. To complete the cycle of vertical transmission, displays efficient transovarial transmission by targeting the reproductive tissues and often exhibits strong tissue-specific tropism in their host.

Exon architecture controls mRNA mA suppression and gene expression.

-methyladenosine (mA) is the most abundant messenger RNA (mRNA) modification and plays crucial roles in diverse physiological processes. Using a massively parallel assay for mA (MPmA), we discover that mA specificity is globally regulated by suppressors that prevent mA deposition in unmethylated transcriptome regions. We identify exon junction complexes (EJCs) as mA suppressors that protect exon junction-proximal RNA within coding sequences from methylation and regulate mRNA stability through mA suppression.

BID-seq: The Quantitative and Base-Resolution Sequencing Method for RNA Pseudouridine.

Quantitative and base-resolution sequencing methods are critical to investigations of the biological functions of diverse RNA modifications. These methods may also be employed for clinical studies and clinical applications in the future. In this In Focus article, we introduce and discuss the development of Bisulfite-Induced Deletion sequencing (BID-seq) for quantitatively detecting mRNA pseudouridine (Ψ) modifications at base resolution.

mG-quant-seq: Quantitative Detection of RNA Internal -Methylguanosine.

Methods for the precise detection and quantification of RNA modifications are critical to uncover functional roles of diverse RNA modifications. The internal mG modification in mammalian cytoplasmic tRNAs is known to affect tRNA function and impact embryonic stem cell self-renewal, tumorigenesis, cancer progression, and other cellular processes. Here, we introduce mG-quant-seq, a quantitative method that accurately detects internal mG sites in human cytoplasmic tRNAs at single-base resolution.

Wolbachia-infected Trichogramma dendrolimi is outcompeted by its uninfected counterpart in superparasitism but does not have developmental delay.

Background: Wolbachia infection increases the superparasitism frequency of Trichogramma females and provides an opportunity for horizontal intraspecific transmission. However, superparasitism may lead to interstrain competition between Wolbachia-infected Trichogramma offspring and their uninfected counterparts. This study investigated the outcome of interstrain intrinsic competition between Wolbachia-infected thelytokous strain (W) and uninfected bisexual strain (B) of Trichogramma dendrolimi.

Quantitative sequencing using BID-seq uncovers abundant pseudouridines in mammalian mRNA at base resolution.

Functional characterization of pseudouridine (Ψ) in mammalian mRNA has been hampered by the lack of a quantitative method that maps Ψ in the whole transcriptome. We report bisulfite-induced deletion sequencing (BID-seq), which uses a bisulfite-mediated reaction to convert pseudouridine stoichiometrically into deletion upon reverse transcription without cytosine deamination. BID-seq enables detection of abundant Ψ sites with stoichiometry information in several human cell lines and 12 different mouse tissues using 10-20 ng input RNA.

5-methylcytosine (mC) RNA modification controls the innate immune response to virus infection by regulating type I interferons.

5-methylcytosine (mC) is one of the most prevalent modifications of RNA, playing important roles in RNA metabolism, nuclear export, and translation. However, the potential role of RNA mC methylation in innate immunity remains elusive. Here, we show that depletion of NSUN2, an mC methyltransferase, significantly inhibits the replication and gene expression of a wide range of RNA and DNA viruses.

-Driven Memory Loss in a Parasitic Wasp Increases Superparasitism to Enhance Horizontal Transmission.

Horizontal transmission of the endosymbiont, , may occur during superparasitism when parasitoid females deposit a second clutch of eggs on a host. may increase the superparasitism tendency of Trichogramma wasps by depriving their memory. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the effects of conditioning experience and memory inhibitors (actinomycin D [ACD] and anisomycin [ANI]) on memory capacity, and expressions of memory-related genes ( and ), and superparasitism frequency of -infected (TDW) and uninfected (TD) lines of Trichogramma dendrolimi after conditioning with lemon or peppermint odor.

The green lacewing as a potential biocontrol agent for managing and .

Understanding predator-prey interactions is essential for successful pest management by using predators, especially for the suppression of novel invasive pest. The green lacewing is a promising polyphagous predator that is widely used in the biocontrol of various pests in China, but information on the control efficiency of this predator against the seriously invasive pest and native is limited. Here we evaluated the predation efficiency of .

14-3-3ζ inhibits maladaptive repair in renal tubules by regulating YAP and reduces renal interstitial fibrosis.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) refers to a group of common clinical syndromes characterized by acute renal dysfunction, which may lead to chronic kidney disease (CKD), and this process is called the AKI-CKD transition. The transcriptional coactivator YAP can promote the AKI-CKD transition by regulating the expression of profibrotic factors, and 14-3-3 protein zeta (14-3-3ζ), an important regulatory protein of YAP, may prevent the AKI-CKD transition. We established an AKI-CKD model in mice by unilateral renal ischemia-reperfusion injury and overexpressed 14-3-3ζ in mice using a fluid dynamics-based gene transfection technique.