Insect herbivory: An inordinate fondness for plant cell wall degrading enzymes.

Tens of thousands of species of leaf beetles rely on plant cell wall degrading enzymes in order to make the most of nutritionally depauperate plant tissues. Many of the genes encoding these enzymes were acquired from microbial donors, either through horizontal gene transfer or by hosting microbial endosymbionts. A new study explores how these insects have leveraged this metabolic potential to diversify and expand into new niches.

Experimental horizontal transfer of phage-derived genes to Drosophila confers innate immunity to parasitoids.

Metazoan parasites have played a major role in shaping innate immunity in animals. Insect hosts and parasitoid wasps are excellent models for illuminating how animal innate immune systems have evolved to neutralize these enemies. One such strategy relies on symbioses between insects and intracellular bacteria that express phage-encoded toxins.

Pore-Forming Toxin-Like Proteins in the Anti-Parasitoid Immune Response of Drosophila.

Introduction: Species of the ananassae subgroup of Drosophilidae are highly resistant to parasitoid wasp infections. We have previously shown that the genes encoding cytolethal distending toxin B (CdtB) and the apoptosis inducing protein of 56 kDa (AIP56) were horizontally transferred to these fly species from prokaryotes and are now instrumental in the anti-parasitoid immune defense of Drosophila ananassae. Here we describe a new family of genes, which encode proteins with hemolysin E domains, heretofore only identified in prokaryotes.

Odorant receptors tuned to isothiocyanates in and their evolutionary expansion in herbivorous relatives.

Plants release complex volatile compounds to attract mutualists, deter herbivores, and deceive pollinators. Here, we used herbivorous specialist flies that feed on mustard plants ( spp.) and microbe-feeding species ( and spp.

Insights into the evolution of herbivory from a leaf-mining fly.

Herbivorous insects and their host plants comprise most known species on Earth. Illuminating how herbivory repeatedly evolved in insects from non-herbivorous lineages is critical to understanding how this biodiversity is created and maintained. We characterized the trophic niche of , a representative of a lineage nested within the that transitioned to herbivory ~10-15 million years ago.

A draft reference genome assembly of California Pipevine, Aristolochia californica Torr.

The California Pipevine, Aristolochia californica Torr., is the only endemic California species within the cosmopolitan birthwort family Aristolochiaceae. It occurs as an understory vine in riparian and chaparral areas and in forest edges and windrows.

Taste evolution in an herbivorous drosophilid.

Plant secondary metabolites pose a challenge for generalist herbivorous insects because they are not only potentially toxic, they also may trigger aversion. On the contrary, some highly specialized herbivorous insects evolved to use these same compounds as 'token stimui' for unambiguous determination of their host pants. Two questions that emerge from these observations are how recently derived herbivores evolve to overcome this aversion to plant secondary metabolites and the extent to which they evolve increased attraction to these same compounds.

Genome reports: enhancing rigor, reproducibility, and relevance.

In this Editorial, Senior Editor for Genome Reports Noah Whiteman discusses G3’s new approach to the article type, outlining the specialized peer review process used. In addition to a traditional, open-ended review, Genome Reports receive a structured review that evaluates the article for best practice in both sequencing strategy and data analysis, reproducibility, and data availability. This carefully designed approach to Genome Reports supports G3’s commitment to serving the community through rapid, robust, and helpful peer review.

Chromosome-level reference genomes of two imperiled desert fishes: spikedace (Meda fulgida) and loach minnow (Tiaroga cobitis).

North American minnows (Cypriniformes: Leuciscidae) comprise a diverse taxonomic group, but many members, particularly those inhabiting deserts, face elevated extinction risks. Despite conservation concerns, leuciscids remain under sampled for reference assemblies relative to other groups of freshwater fishes. Here, we present 2 chromosome-scale reference genome assemblies spikedace (Meda fulgida) and loach minnow (Tiaroga cobitis) using PacBio, Illumina and Omni-C technologies.

Convergent resistance to GABA receptor neurotoxins through plant-insect coevolution.

The molecular mechanisms of coevolution between plants and insects remain elusive. GABA receptors are targets of many neurotoxic terpenoids, which represent the most diverse array of natural products known. Over deep evolutionary time, as plant terpene synthases diversified in plants, so did plant terpenoid defence repertoires.

A draft reference genome assembly of the Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly, Battus philenor hirsuta.

The California Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly, Battus philenor hirsuta, and its host plant, the California Pipevine or Dutchman's Pipe, Aristolochia californica Torr., are an important California endemic species pair. While this species pair is an ideal system to study co-evolution, genomic resources for both are lacking.

Mistletoes.

Whiteman introduces mistletoes, above-ground parasitic plants.

Evolution of chemosensory and detoxification gene families across herbivorous Drosophilidae.

Herbivorous insects are exceptionally diverse, accounting for a quarter of all known eukaryotic species, but the genetic basis of adaptations that enabled this dietary transition remains poorly understood. Many studies have suggested that expansions and contractions of chemosensory and detoxification gene families - genes directly mediating interactions with plant chemical defenses - underlie successful plant colonization. However, this hypothesis has been challenging to test because the origins of herbivory in many lineages are ancient (>150 million years ago [mya]), obscuring genomic evolutionary patterns.

Humoral and cellular immune responses in persons with rheumatoid arthritis after a third dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.

Objective: Disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) that treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may reduce immune responses to COVID-19 vaccination. We compared humoral and cell-mediated immunity before and after a 3rd dose of mRNA COVID vaccine in RA subjects.

Methods: RA patients that received 2 doses of mRNA vaccine enrolled in an observational study in 2021 before receiving a 3rd dose.

Evolution and genomic basis of the plant-penetrating ovipositor: a key morphological trait in herbivorous Drosophilidae.

Herbivorous insects are extraordinarily diverse, yet are found in only one-third of insect orders. This skew may result from barriers to plant colonization, coupled with phylogenetic constraint on plant-colonizing adaptations. The plant-penetrating ovipositor, however, is one trait that surmounts host plant physical defences and may be evolutionarily labile.

Saliva and Lung Microbiome Associations with Electronic Cigarette Use and Smoking.

Unlabelled: The microbiome has increasingly been linked to cancer. Little is known about the lung and oral cavity microbiomes in smokers, and even less for electronic cigarette (EC) users, compared with never-smokers. In a cross-sectional study (n = 28) of smokers, EC users, and never-smokers, bronchoalveolar lavage and saliva samples underwent metatranscriptome profiling to examine associations with lung and oral microbiomes.

A Reference Genome Assembly of Hybrid-Derived California Wild Radish (Raphanus sativus × raphanistrum).

For agriculturally important plants, pollination and herbivory are 2 ecological factors that play into the success of crop yields. Each is also important in natural environments where invasive plants and their effect on species interactions may alter the native ecology. The California Wild Radish (Raphanus sativus × raphanistrum), a hybrid derived from an agriculturally important crop and a nonnative cultivar, is common in California.

Immune recall improves antibody durability and breadth to SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Key features of immune memory are greater and faster antigen-specific antibody responses to repeat infection. In the setting of immune-evading viral evolution, it is important to understand how far antibody memory recognition stretches across viral variants when memory cells are recalled to action by repeat invasions. It is also important to understand how immune recall influences longevity of secreted antibody responses.

The problem of interaction.

As we look to the next 75 years, I recount how the sociopolitical milieu in which the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE) and the journal Evolution were formed in 1947 was a "problem of interaction."

Evolution in small steps and giant leaps.

The first Editor of Evolution was Ernst Mayr. His foreword to the first issue of Evolution published in 1947 framed evolution as a "problem of interaction" that was just beginning to be studied in this broad context. First, I explore progress and prospects on understanding the subsidiary interactions identified by Mayr, including interactions between parts of organisms, between individuals and populations, between species, and between the organism and its abiotic environment.

Evolution of Olfactory Receptors Tuned to Mustard Oils in Herbivorous Drosophilidae.

The diversity of herbivorous insects is attributed to their propensity to specialize on toxic plants. In an evolutionary twist, toxins betray the identity of their bearers when herbivores coopt them as cues for host-plant finding, but the evolutionary mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are poorly understood. We focused on Scaptomyza flava, an herbivorous drosophilid specialized on isothiocyanate (ITC)-producing (Brassicales) plants, and identified Or67b paralogs that were triplicated as mustard-specific herbivory evolved.