Differing Transcriptomic Responses in High Titer versus Low Titer Mosquitoes after Oral Infection with Sindbis Virus.

Oral infection of mosquitoes by arboviruses often results in a large degree of variation in the amount of infectious virus between individual mosquitoes, even when the mosquitoes are from inbred laboratory strains. This variability in arbovirus load has been shown to affect virus transmissibility. Previously, our group described population genetic and specific infectivity differences between the virus populations found in high and low titer mosquitoes that had been orally infected with Sindbis virus (SINV).

Expressing the Pro-Apoptotic Reaper Protein via Insertion into the Structural Open Reading Frame of Sindbis Virus Reduces the Ability to Infect Mosquitoes.

Arboviruses continue to threaten a significant portion of the human population, and a better understanding is needed of the determinants of successful arbovirus infection of arthropod vectors. Avoiding apoptosis has been shown to be one such determinant. Previous work showed that a Sindbis virus (SINV) construct called MRE/rpr that expresses the pro-apoptotic protein Reaper via a duplicated subgenomic promoter had a reduced ability to orally infect mosquitoes at 3 days post-blood meal (PBM), but this difference diminished over time as virus variants containing deletions in the inserted gene rapidly predominated.

Primary Microbial Succession in the Anchialine Ecosystem.

When new land is created, initial microbial colonization lays the foundation for further ecological succession of plant and animal communities. Primary microbial succession of new aquatic habitats formed during volcanic activity has received little attention. The anchialine ecosystem, which includes coastal ponds in young lava flows, offers an opportunity to examine this process.

Infection of Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes with Midgut-Attenuated Sindbis Virus Reduces, but Does Not Eliminate, Disseminated Infection.

Arboviruses are transmitted by specific vectors, and the reasons for this specificity are not fully understood. One contributing factor is the existence of tissue barriers within the vector such as the midgut escape barrier. We used microRNA (miRNA) targeting of Sindbis virus (SINV) to study how replication in midgut cells contributes to overcoming this barrier in the mosquito Aedes aegypti.

Discovery of Novel Biosynthetic Gene Cluster Diversity From a Soil Metagenomic Library.

Soil microorganisms historically have been a rich resource for natural product discovery, yet the majority of these microbes remain uncultivated and their biosynthetic capacity is left underexplored. To identify the biosynthetic potential of soil microorganisms using a culture-independent approach, we constructed a large-insert metagenomic library in from a topsoil sampled from the Cullars Rotation (Auburn, AL, United States), a long-term crop rotation experiment. Library clones were screened for biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) using either PCR or a NGS (next generation sequencing) multiplexed pooling strategy, coupled with bioinformatic analysis to identify contigs associated with each metagenomic clone.

Red Coloration in an Anchialine Shrimp: Carotenoids, Genetic Variation, and Candidate Genes.

Red coloration is a widely distributed phenotype among animals, yet the pigmentary and genetic bases for this phenotype have been described in relatively few taxa. Here we show that the Hawaiian endemic anchialine shrimp is red because of the accumulation of astaxanthin. Laboratory colonies of phylogenetically distinct lineages of have colony-specific amounts of astaxanthin that are developmentally, and likely genetically, fixed.

Disparate responses to salinity across species and organizational levels in anchialine shrimps.

Environmentally induced plasticity in gene expression is one of the underlying mechanisms of adaptation to habitats with variable environments. For example, euryhaline crustaceans show predictable changes in the expression of ion-transporter genes during salinity transfers, although studies have typically been limited to specific genes, taxa and ecosystems of interest. Here, we investigated responses to salinity change at multiple organizational levels in five species of shrimp representing at least three independent invasions of the anchialine ecosystem, defined as habitats with marine and freshwater influences with spatial and temporal fluctuations in salinity.

Na /K -ATPase gene duplications in clitellate annelids are associated with freshwater colonization.

Major habitat transitions, such as those from marine to freshwater habitats or from aquatic to terrestrial habitats, have occurred infrequently in animal evolution and may represent a barrier to diversification. Identifying genomic events associated with these transitions can help us better understand mechanisms that allow animals to cross these barriers and diversify in new habitats. Study of the Capitella telata and Helobdella robusta genomes allows examination of one such habitat transition (marine to freshwater) in Annelida.

Systematic Revision of Symbiodiniaceae Highlights the Antiquity and Diversity of Coral Endosymbionts.

The advent of molecular data has transformed the science of organizing and studying life on Earth. Genetics-based evidence provides fundamental insights into the diversity, ecology, and origins of many biological systems, including the mutualisms between metazoan hosts and their micro-algal partners. A well-known example is the dinoflagellate endosymbionts ("zooxanthellae") that power the growth of stony corals and coral reef ecosystems.

Phylogenomic analyses of Crassiclitellata support major Northern and Southern Hemisphere clades and a Pangaean origin for earthworms.

Background: Earthworms (Crassiclitellata) are a diverse group of annelids of substantial ecological and economic importance. Earthworms are primarily terrestrial infaunal animals, and as such are probably rather poor natural dispersers. Therefore, the near global distribution of earthworms reflects an old and likely complex evolutionary history.

Discovery and evolution of novel hemerythrin genes in annelid worms.

Background: Despite extensive study on hemoglobins and hemocyanins, little is known about hemerythrin (Hr) evolutionary history. Four subgroups of Hrs have been documented, including: circulating Hr (cHr), myohemerythrin (myoHr), ovohemerythrin (ovoHr), and neurohemerythrin (nHr). Annelids have the greatest diversity of oxygen carrying proteins among animals and are the only phylum in which all Hr subgroups have been documented.

Geographic structure in the Southern Ocean circumpolar brittle star (Ophiuridae) revealed from mtDNA and single-nucleotide polymorphism data.

Marine systems have traditionally been thought of as "open" with few barriers to gene flow. In particular, many marine organisms in the Southern Ocean purportedly possess circumpolar distributions that have rarely been well verified. Here, we use the highly abundant and endemic Southern Ocean brittle star to examine genetic structure and determine whether barriers to gene flow have existed around the Antarctic continent.

Classification of a Hypervirulent Pathotype Responsible for Epidemic Outbreaks in Warm-Water Fishes.

Lineages of hypervirulent (vAh) are the cause of persistent outbreaks of motile septicemia in warm-water fishes worldwide. Over the last decade, this virulent lineage of has resulted in annual losses of millions of tons of farmed carp and catfish in the People's Republic of China and the United States (US). Multiple lines of evidence indicate US catfish and Asian carp isolates of affiliated with sequence type 251 (ST251) share a recent common ancestor.

Developmental Transcriptomics of the Hawaiian Anchialine Shrimp Halocaridina rubra Holthuis, 1963 (Crustacea: Atyidae).

Many crustacean species progress through a series of metamorphoses during the developmental transition from embryo to adult. The molecular genetic basis of this transition, however, is not well characterized for a large number of crustaceans. Here, we employ multiple RNA-Seq methodologies to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between "early" (i.

Here We Are, But Where Do We Go? A Systematic Review of Crustacean Transcriptomic Studies from 2014-2015.

Despite their economic, ecological, and experimental importance, genomic resources remain scarce for crustaceans. In lieu of genomes, many researchers have taken advantage of technological advancements to instead sequence and assemble crustacean transcriptomes de novo However, there is little consensus on what standard operating procedures are, or should be, for the field. Here, we systematically reviewed 53 studies published during 2014-2015 that utilized transcriptomic resources from this taxonomic group in an effort to identify commonalities as well as potential weaknesses that have applicability beyond just crustaceans.

Salinity-induced changes in gene expression from anterior and posterior gills of Callinectes sapidus (Crustacea: Portunidae) with implications for crustacean ecological genomics.

Decapods represent one of the most ecologically diverse taxonomic groups within crustaceans, making them ideal to study physiological processes like osmoregulation. However, prior studies have failed to consider the entire transcriptomic response of the gill - the primary organ responsible for ion transport - to changing salinity. Moreover, the molecular genetic differences between non-osmoregulatory and osmoregulatory gill types, as well as the hormonal basis of osmoregulation, remain underexplored.

Evolution of Sulfur Binding by Hemoglobin in Siboglinidae (Annelida) with Special Reference to Bone-Eating Worms, Osedax.

Most members of Siboglinidae (Annelida) harbor endosymbiotic bacteria that allow them to thrive in extreme environments such as hydrothermal vents, methane seeps, and whale bones. These symbioses are enabled by specialized hemoglobins (Hbs) that are able to bind hydrogen sulfide for transportation to their chemosynthetic endosymbionts. Sulfur-binding capabilities are hypothesized to be due to cysteine residues at key positions in both vascular and coelomic Hbs, especially in the A2 and B2 chains.

Biogeochemical and Microbial Variation across 5500 km of Antarctic Surface Sediment Implicates Organic Matter as a Driver of Benthic Community Structure.

Western Antarctica, one of the fastest warming locations on Earth, is a unique environment that is underexplored with regards to biodiversity. Although pelagic microbial communities in the Southern Ocean and coastal Antarctic waters have been well-studied, there are fewer investigations of benthic communities and most have a focused geographic range. We sampled surface sediment from 24 sites across a 5500 km region of Western Antarctica (covering the Ross Sea to the Weddell Sea) to examine relationships between microbial communities and sediment geochemistry.

Reproduction and development in Halocaridina rubra Holthuis, 1963 (Crustacea: Atyidae) clarifies larval ecology in the Hawaiian anchialine ecosystem.

Larvae in aquatic habitats often develop in environments different from those they inhabit as adults. Shrimp in the Atyidae exemplify this trend, as larvae of many species require salt or brackish water for development, while adults are freshwater-adapted. An exception within the Atyidae family is the "anchialine clade," which are euryhaline as adults and endemic to habitats with subterranean fresh and marine water influences.

Phylogenetic utility, and variability in structure and content, of complete mitochondrial genomes among genetic lineages of the Hawaiian anchialine shrimp Halocaridina rubra Holthuis 1963 (Atyidae:Decapoda).

The Atyidae are caridean shrimp possessing hair-like setae on their claws and are important contributors to ecological services in tropical and temperate fresh and brackish water ecosystems. Complete mitochondrial genomes have only been reported from five of the 449 species in the family, thus limiting understanding of mitochondrial genome evolution and the phylogenetic utility of complete mitochondrial sequences in the Atyidae. Here, comparative analyses of complete mitochondrial genomes from eight genetic lineages of Halocaridina rubra, an atyid endemic to the anchialine ecosystem of the Hawaiian Archipelago, are presented.