Publications by authors named "Weihua Ma"

Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems, which are prevalent in bacteria and archaea, have significant potential applications in eukaryotic cells due to their characteristic ability to inhibit cell growth. In particular, type II TA systems, where both the toxin and antitoxin are proteins, can serve as lethal and rescue genes in genetic pest management. However, traditional methods of cloning these systems often encounter difficulties due to cryptic promoter driven expression of toxins during the cloning process.

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Bee venom (BV) and its main compound melittin (MLT) have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-aging activities; however, very little research has been conducted on their effects on skin aging. In this study, a mouse skin aging model induced by D-galactose was constructed via subcutaneous injection into the scruff of the neck, and different doses of BV and MLT were used as interventions. The anti-aging effects and mechanisms of BV and MLT were explored by detecting the skin morphology and structure, and anti-aging-related factors and performing non-targeted metabolomics of mice.

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Linear induction motors (LIMs) are positioned head-to-tail in medium and low-speed maglev (MLSM) trains, and the interaction due to small spacing between two LIMs is not yet clear. In this work, based on the 2D electromagnetic field theory, the vector magnetic potential (VMP) of each region was solved, and the traction forces of two adjacent LIMs were derived. Subsequently, the correctness of the theoretical model was verified by simulation.

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Freeze-tolerance is an important physiological trait for terrestrial environmental adaptation and intraspecific geographic-lineage diversification in ectothermic animals, yet there remains a lack of systematic studies on its underlying genetic mechanisms and evolution. To address this problem, we employed the widely distributed rice pest, the Chilo suppressalis, as a model to explore the genetic mechanisms and evolutionary history of freeze-tolerance. First, we systematically characterized its antifreeze mechanisms by performing functional validation of potential key genes in laboratory-reared lines.

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Article Synopsis
  • Plants hold many undiscovered natural products, especially minor bioactive components, which are challenging to identify due to the need for large amounts of plant material.
  • Mugwort is a well-known insect repellent herb, particularly used during China's Dragon Boat Festival, but the specific compound responsible for its repellency was previously unidentified.
  • This study used a new genetic approach to discover 54 terpene products from mugwort, including a novel compound, and found that (+)-intermedeol is highly effective against mosquitoes and ticks, achieving initial production in a yeast system.
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The cotton bollworm causes severe mechanical damage to plants during feeding and leaves oral secretions (OSs) at the mechanical wounds. The role these OSs play in the invasion of plants is still largely unknown. Here, a novel H.

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Bumblebees are primary social insects and a vital class of pollinating insects. Their distinctive reproductive mode is characterized by the independent initiation and construction of the nest by the queen and the subsequent production of sufficient workers, males, and gynes following colony development. After successful mating, the queen transitions to the first phase of its annual life cycle.

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  • Maglev trains distribute their weight uniformly across bridges using levitation forces, allowing for a simplified analysis of their impact on bridge dynamics.
  • This research focuses on the dynamic response of bridges under single concentrated forces and multiple forces as maglev trains pass over, using simulations and real-world tests.
  • Results show that simplifying levitation forces as concentrated forces can effectively assess bridge resonance and critical train speeds, achieving accurate representations of bridge dynamics through specific force groupings.
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  • The leaf beetle Ophraella communa is a biological control agent for common ragweed, and researchers sequenced its genome using advanced technologies to enhance their study.
  • The complete genome assembly is 733.1 Mb in size with 17 chromosomes and contains 25,873 protein-coding genes, of which most have functional annotations.
  • Over half of the genome (57.76%) consists of repetitive elements, highlighting its complexity and providing crucial information for improving biological control methods that utilize this beetle.
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Insects detect and discriminate a diverse array of chemicals using odorant receptors (ORs), which are ligand-gated ion channels comprising a divergent odorant-sensing OR and a conserved odorant receptor co-receptor (Orco). In this work, we report structures of the OR5-Orco heterocomplex from the pea aphid alone and bound to its known activating ligand, geranyl acetate. In these structures, three Orco subunits serve as scaffold components that cannot bind the ligand and remain relatively unchanged.

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Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are crucial modulators of post-transcriptional gene expression regulation, cell fate determination, and disease development. However, lncRNA functions during short-term heat stress in adult worker bees are poorly understood. Here, we performed deep sequencing and bioinformatic analyses of honeybee lncRNAs.

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Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins have provided exceptional control of agricultural insect pests, however, over reliance on the proteins would potentially contribute to the development of field tolerance. Developing new sustainable insect pest control methods that target the mechanisms underlying Bt tolerance can potentially support the Bt control paradigm while also providing insights into basic insect physiology. The MAPK p38 pathway is strongly associated with Bt tolerance in Chilo suppressalis, a major pest of rice.

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Background: Adelphocoris suturalis is a destructive pest that attacks > 270 plants, including cotton, maize, soybean, and fruit trees. Adelphocoris suturalis can cause tremendous crop losses when the density exceeds economic thresholds, but because it can be both phytophagous and zoophytophagous it can serve as a natural enemy of other pests when the density is below the economic threshold. Effective control of its population is beneficial for maximizing yield and profits.

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Insulin receptors (InR) are an integral component of the insulin/insulin-like growth factor signaling pathway, which plays a vital role in insect development, lifespan, reproduction, and olfactory sensitivity. However, whether InR participate in the peripheral olfactory system of insects remains unclear. Recently, we found that 2-heptanone (2-HT) affects AcerInR expression, the gene for an InR protein, in Apis cerana cerana.

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A variety of coordinated host-cell responses are activated as defense mechanisms against pore-forming toxins (PFTs). Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a worldwide used biopesticide whose efficacy and precise application methods limits its use to replace synthetic pesticides in agricultural settings. Here, we analyzed the intestinal defense mechanisms of two lepidopteran insect pests after intoxication with sublethal dose of Bt PFTs to find out potential functional genes.

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The fruit fly Zeugodacus tau (Diptera: Tephritidae) is a major pest of melons and other cucurbits in Southeast Asia. In this study, we used Illumina, Nanopore, and Hi-C sequencing technologies to assemble a reference genome of Z. tau at the chromosomal level.

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Cry and Vip3 proteins are both pore-forming toxins produced by Bacillus thuringiensis that show synergistic insecticidal activity against different insect pests. However, the synergistic effect of Cry and Vip3 proteins on the midgut in target insects is still unclear. In this study, faster and more serious damage was observed after treatment with both Cry9A and Vip3A proteins in the Chilo suppressalis midgut compared to single-protein treatment.

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In recent decades, the increasingly widespread application of chemical pesticides has exacerbated the emergence of insecticide resistance among insect pests. In this study, we examined the rapid response of bacteria in the midgut of the fruit fly Bactrocera tau (Walker) (Diptera: Tephritidae) to stress induced by the insecticides lambda-cyhalothrin and spinosad by analyzing the bacterial community structure and diversity in the midguts of 4-day-old B. tau.

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Background: Adelphocoris suturalis (Hemiptera: Miridae) is a notorious agricultural pest, which causes serious economic losses to a diverse range of agricultural crops around the world. The poor understanding of its genomic characteristics has seriously hindered the establishment of sustainable and environment-friendly agricultural pest management through biotechnology and biological insecticides.

Results: Here, we report a chromosome-level assembled genome of A.

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Plants experience numerous biotic stresses throughout their lifespan, such as pathogens and pests, which can substantially affect crop production. In response, plants have evolved various metabolites that help them withstand these stresses. Here, we show that two specialized metabolites in the herbaceous perennial Belamcanda chinensis, tectorigenin and its glycoside tectoridin, have diverse defensive effects against phytopathogenic microorganisms and antifeeding effects against insect pest.

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Article Synopsis
  • Next-generation sequencing was used to analyze the bacterial communities in the eggs and ovaries of the pest Bactrocera cucurbitae, which affects cucurbit fruits.
  • The study found that the egg microbiota exhibited greater diversity than the microbiota in the primary and mature ovaries, with 19 different bacterial phyla identified.
  • Key dominant phyla included Pseudomonadota and Bacteroidota, and understanding these microbial communities may help in developing strategies for managing this pest.
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Article Synopsis
  • - Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry toxins, used in insect-resistant crops, form pores in host cell membranes, but the cellular defenses against these toxins are not fully understood.
  • - The study shows that Cry1Ca toxin reduces the function of microRNA-7322-5p, which leads to decreased vulnerability of the insect Chilo suppressalis to the toxin, while also enhancing a protein called Hsp19 involved in sequestering the toxin.
  • - By engineering rice plants to express both cry1Ca and double-stranded RNA targeting the p38 gene of C. suppressalis, researchers created a rice line that demonstrated improved resistance to the pest in laboratory and field tests.
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Seminal fluid proteins (SFPs) are key factors in sexual reproduction and are transferred to females during mating with sperm. SFPs have a nutritional value because they protect and activate sperm storage and release to optimize fecundity. Multiple matings promote ovipositioning in several insect species.

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The selective catalytic oxidation (SCO) of triethylamine (TEA) to harmless nitrogen (N), carbon dioxide (CO), and water (HO) is of green elimination technology. In this paper, Mn-Ce/ZSM-5 with different proportions of MnO/CeO were studied for the selective catalytic combustion of TEA. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, BET, H-TPR, XPS, and NH-TPD and their catalytic activities were analyzed.

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The striped stem borer (SSB, ) is a major pest of rice worldwide. Double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) targeting essential genes can trigger a lethal RNA interference (RNAi) response in insect pests. In this study, we applied a Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) to diet-based RNA-Seq data as a method to facilitate the discovery of novel target genes for pest control.

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