Combining genomics and epidemiology to investigate a zoonotic outbreak of rabies in Romblon Province, Philippines.

Rabies is a viral zoonosis that kills thousands of people annually in low- and middle-income countries across Africa and Asia where domestic dogs are the reservoir. 'Zero by 30', the global strategy to end dog-mediated human rabies, promotes a One Health approach underpinned by mass dog vaccination, post-exposure vaccination of bite victims, robust surveillance and community engagement. Using Integrated Bite Case Management (IBCM) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), we enhanced rabies surveillance to detect an outbreak in a formerly rabies-free island province in the Philippines.

Functional redundancy of the three insulin receptors of cockroaches.

Gene duplication is a fundamental evolutionary process which provides opportunities to acquire new gene functions. In the case of the insulin receptors (InRs) in cockroaches and close-related insects, two successive duplications determined the occurrence of three InR genes: InR2, InR1 and InR3, the last two forming a sister cluster to InR2. The biological role of each of the gene duplicates and whether they resulted from neofunctionalization or subfunctionalization is still unclear.

CHMP4B contributes to maintaining the follicular cells integrity in the panoistic ovary of the cockroach Blattella germanica.

Background: The Endosomal Sorting Complex Required for Transport (ESCRT) is a highly conserved cellular machinery essential for many cellular functions, including transmembrane protein sorting, endosomal trafficking, and membrane scission. CHMP4B is a key component of ESCRT-III subcomplex and has been thoroughly studied in the meroistic ovaries of Drosophila melanogaster showing its relevance in maintaining this reproductive organ during the life of the fly. However, the role of the CHMP4B in the most basal panoistic ovaries remains elusive.

Regulation of insulin-like peptide expression in adult Blattella germanica females.

The insulin-IGF-signalling (IIS) pathway regulates key processes in metazoans. The pathway is activated through the binding of the ligands, which in insects are usually referred to as insulin-like peptides (ILPs), to a class of receptor tyrosine kinases, the insect insulin receptor. To study the pathway regulation, it is therefore essential to understand how ILPs are produced and released.

siRNA enrichment in Argonaute 2-depleted Blattella germanica.

Background: RNA interference (RNAi) is a cellular mechanism used to fight various threats, including transposons, aberrant RNAs, and some types of viruses. This mechanism relies on the detection of dsRNA molecules, which through a pathway involving Dicer-2 (Dcr-2) and Argonaute 2 (AGO2), produces small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that bind to the complementary RNAs triggering their degradation.

Methods: Using the cockroach Blattella germanica as a model, we examined AGO2 activity by depleting its mRNA using RNAi and analyzing the phenotypes produced.

Fault Injection Emulation for Systems in FPGAs: Tools, Techniques and Methodology, a Tutorial.

Communication systems that work in jeopardized environments such as space are affected by soft errors that can cause malfunctions in the behavior of the circuits such as, for example, single event upsets (SEUs) or multiple bit upsets (MBUs). In order to avoid this erroneous functioning, this kind of systems are usually protected using redundant logic such as triple modular redundancy (TMR) or error correction codes (ECCs). After the implementation of the protected modules, the communication modules must be tested to assess the achieved reliability.

The expression of cockroach insulin-like peptides is differentially regulated by physiological conditions and affected by compensatory regulation.

In insects, the insulin receptor (InR) pathway is involved in regulating key physiological processes, including juvenile hormone (JH) synthesis, vitellogenin production, and oocyte growth. This raises the question about which ligand (or ligands) binds to InR to trigger the above effects. We have cloned seven insulin-like peptides (BgILP1 to 7) from female Blattella germanica cockroaches and found that the brain expresses BgILP1 to 6, the fat body BgILP7, and the ovary BgILP2.

Local Juvenile Hormone activity regulates gut homeostasis and tumor growth in adult Drosophila.

Hormones play essential roles during development and maintaining homeostasis in adult organisms, regulating a plethora of biological processes. Generally, hormones are secreted by glands and perform a systemic action. Here we show that Juvenile Hormones (JHs), insect sesquiterpenoids synthesized by the corpora allata, are also synthesized by the adult Drosophila gut.

Expression of juvenile hormone acid O-methyltransferase and juvenile hormone synthesis in Blattella germanica.

Juvenile hormone (JH), a sesquiterpenoid synthetized by the insect corpora allata (CA), plays critical roles in metamorphosis and reproduction. Penultimate or last step of JH synthesis is catalyzed by juvenile hormone acid O-methyltransferase (JHAMT). Here we report the cloning and expression analysis of the JHAMT orthologue in the cockroach, Blattella germanica (L.

Juvenile hormone biosynthesis in adult Blattella germanica requires nuclear receptors Seven-up and FTZ-F1.

In insects, the transition from juvenile development to the adult stage is controlled by juvenile hormone (JH) synthesized from the corpora allata (CA) glands. Whereas a JH-free period during the last juvenile instar triggers metamorphosis and the end of the growth period, the reappearance of this hormone after the imaginal molt marks the onset of reproductive adulthood. Despite the importance of such transition, the regulatory mechanism that controls it remains mostly unknown.

Orcokinins contribute to the regulation of vitellogenin transcription in the cockroach Blattella germanica.

Orcokinins (OKs) are neuropeptides that were first identified in crustacean through their myotropic activity. In insects, the OK gene gives rise to two mRNAs coding for two different families of conserved mature neuropeptides: OKA and OKB. Although OKs are conserved in many insect species, its physiological role in this animal class is not fully understood.

Insulin receptor-mediated nutritional signalling regulates juvenile hormone biosynthesis and vitellogenin production in the German cockroach.

Female reproductive processes, which comprise, amongst others, the synthesis of yolk proteins and the endocrine mechanisms which regulate this synthesis, need a considerable amount of energy and resources. The role of communicating that the required nutritional status has been attained is carried out by nutritional signalling pathways and, in particular, by the insulin receptor (InR) pathway. In the present study, using the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, as a model, we analysed the role of InR in different processes, but mainly those related to juvenile hormone (JH) synthesis and vitellogenin production.

FoxO is required for the activation of hypertrehalosemic hormone expression in cockroaches.

Background: FoxO proteins are a subgroup of the Forkhead-box family of transcription factors, which function as the main transcriptional effectors of the insulin receptor pathway. This pathway, activated by the binding of insulin or IGFs (or insect insulin-like peptides), promotes the phosphorylation and inactivation of FoxO because of its export from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. The homolog of FoxO in the cockroach Blattella germanica works in a situation of nutrient shortage by inhibiting the endocrine induction of reproduction.

FoxO inhibits juvenile hormone biosynthesis and vitellogenin production in the German cockroach.

The transcription factor Forkhead-box O (FoxO) is the main transcriptional effector of the Insulin Receptor/Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (InR/PI3K) pathway. In a situation of nutrient restriction, the pathway is inactive and FoxO translocates to the nucleus to exert its transcriptional action. In starved females of the cockroach Blattella germanica, the reproductive processes, and in particular the synthesis of juvenile hormone in the corpora allata and that of vitellogenin in the fat body, are arrested.

Leucomyosuppressin modulates cardiac rhythm in the cockroach Blattella germanica.

Several lines of evidence point to leucomyosuppressin (LMS) and myosuppressin-related peptides as inhibitory modulators of heartbeat frequency in arthropods. Previous studies in Blattella germanica demonstrated that heartbeat frequency decreases after ootheca formation, and remains low during the period of ootheca transport. Subsequent work in this cockroach resulted in the characterization of LMS and the cloning and sequencing of its precursor.

Juvenile hormone and allatostatins in the German cockroach embryo.

Levels of juvenile hormone III (JH), FGLamide allatostatin peptides (ASTs), ASTs precursor (preproAST) mRNA and methyl farnesoate epoxidase (CYP15A1) mRNA were measured in embryos of the cockroach Blattella germanica. JH starts to rise just after dorsal closure, reaches maximal levels between 60% and 80% of embryogenesis, and decrease subsequently to undetectable levels. ASTs show low levels during the first two thirds of embryogenesis, increase thereafter and maintain high levels until hatching.

Target of rapamycin (TOR) mediates the transduction of nutritional signals into juvenile hormone production.

Anautogeny is a reproductive strategy by which females do not reproduce until they feed. Therefore, nutritional signals must inform the reproductive tissues, and cells that the organism has reached a nutritional status suitable for triggering reproductive processes. One of the possible pathways involved in anautogeny is the "target of rapamycin" (TOR) pathway, which has been described as connecting the nutritional status with growth, proliferation, and cancer.

Identification of a tachykinin-related peptide with orexigenic properties in the German cockroach.

A number of evidences suggest that tachykinin-related peptides (TRPs) of insects can stimulate food consumption after being released from the midgut to the hemolymph. The idea of the present work has been to test this hypothesis in the anautogenous cockroach Blattella germanica. First, we have identified the peptide LemTRP-1 (APSGFLGVR-NH(2)) from brain extracts, by means of an ELISA developed with a polyclonal antibody against this peptide.

Silencing allatostatin expression using double-stranded RNA targeted to preproallatostatin mRNA in the German cockroach.

YXFGL-NH(2) family allatostatins (ASTs) were isolated from cockroach brain extracts based on their capacity to inhibit juvenile hormone (JH) biosynthesis in corpora allata (CA) incubated in vitro. Subsequently, the inhibitory activity of synthetic ASTs was demonstrated experimentally, although these peptides were shown to be active as JH inhibitors only in cockroaches, crickets, and termites. Here, we sought to examine whether ASTs are true physiological regulators of JH synthesis.

Identification of leucomyosuppressin in the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, as an inhibitor of food intake.

The feeding pattern of the adult female of Blattella germanica peaks in the middle of the vitellogenic cycle. Following the hypothesis that a factor inhibiting gut peristalsis also inhibits food intake and is involved in the regulation of feeding, we searched for the most powerful myoinhibitory peptide in brain extracts from B. germanica females collected after the peak within the feeding cycle.

Quantity does matter. Juvenile hormone and the onset of vitellogenesis in the German cockroach.

We aimed to elucidate why cockroaches do not produce vitellogenin in immature stages, by studying the appearance of vitellogenin mRNA in larvae of Blattella germanica. Treatment of female larvae in any of the last three instars with 1 microg of juvenile hormone (JH) III induces vitellogenin gene transcription, which indicates that the fat body is competent to transcribe vitellogenin at least from the antepenultimate instar larvae. In untreated females, vitellogenin production starts on day 1 after the imaginal molt, when corpora allata begin to synthesize JH III at rates doubling the maximal of larval stages.

Allatostatin gene expression in brain and midgut, and activity of synthetic allatostatins on feeding-related processes in the cockroach Blattella germanica.

Allatostatins of the YXFGLamide group were discovered in cockroaches through their capacity to inhibit juvenile hormone biosynthesis. Here, we assess the occurrence of preproallatostatin (preproAST) mRNA in the brain and midgut of adult females of the cockroach Blattella germanica, and estimate brain and midgut preproAST mRNA levels during the first reproductive cycle. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) shows that brain preproAST mRNA levels increase slightly during the gonadotrophic cycle, and remain high during ootheca transport.

Modulation of cardiac rhythm by allatostatins in the cockroach Blattella germanica (L.) (Dictyoptera, Blattellidae).

Cardiac rhythm was measured in Blattella germanica females during the reproductive cycle. The rate increased from day 0 to 1, remained constant during the vitellogenic period and fell by about 20% during the period of oothecal transport. The effects of allatostatins, allatostatin analogues and corazonin were tested on semi-isolated heart preparations.