Gut symbiont-derived anandamide promotes reward learning in honeybees by activating the endocannabinoid pathway.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are dietary components participating in neurotransmission and cell signaling. Pollen is a source of PUFAs for honeybees, and disruptions in dietary PUFAs reduce the cognitive performance of honeybees. We reveal that gut bacteria of honeybees contribute to fatty acid metabolism, impacting reward learning.

Regulation of maize growth and immunity by ZmSKI3-mediated RNA decay and post-transcriptional gene silencing.

Disease resistance is often associated with compromised plant growth and yield due to defense-growth tradeoffs. However, key components and mechanisms underlying the defense-growth tradeoffs are rarely explored in maize. In this study, we find that ZmSKI3, a putative subunit of the SUPERKILLER (SKI) complex that mediates the 3'-5' degradation of RNA, regulates both plant development and disease resistance in maize.

Spatial accumulation of lignin monomers and cellulose underlying stalk strength in maize.

Lodging largely affects yield, quality and mechanical harvesting of maize. Stalk strength is one of the major factors that affect maize lodging. Although plant cell wall components including lignin and cellulose were known to be associated with stalk strength and lodging resistance, spatial accumulation of specific lignin monomers and cellulose in different tissues and their association with stalk strength in maize was not clearly understood.

Antibiotic exposure alters the honeybee gut microbiota and may interfere with the honeybee behavioral caste transition.

Behavioral division is essential for the sustainability and reproduction of honeybee populations. While accumulating evidence has documented that antibiotic exposure interferes with bee behavioral divisions, how the gut microbiome, host physiology, and genetic regulation are implicated in this process remains understudied. Here, by constructing single-cohort colonies, we validated that the gut microbiota varied in composition between age-matched nurse and forager bees.

Copine proteins are required for brassinosteroid signaling in maize and Arabidopsis.

Copine proteins are highly conserved and ubiquitously found in eukaryotes, and their indispensable roles in different species were proposed. However, their exact function remains unclear. The phytohormone brassinosteroids (BRs) play vital roles in plant growth, development and environmental responses.

Intra-ovarian inflammatory states and their associations with embryo quality in normal-BMI PCOS patients undergoing IVF treatment.

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the main cause of anovulatory infertility in women of reproductive age, and low-grade chronic inflammation plays a key role in the occurrence and development of PCOS. However, obesity, as a likely confounding factor, can affect the inflammatory state of PCOS patients.

Objective: The aim of this study was to comprehensively investigate intra-ovarian inflammatory states and their impact on embryo quality in PCOS patients with a normal BMI undergoing IVF treatment.

Rotenone impairs brain glial energetics and locomotor behavior in bumblebees.

Bumblebees are essential pollinators of both wildflowers and crops and face multiple anthropogenic stressors, particularly the utilization of pesticides. Rotenone is an extensively applied neurotoxic pesticide that possesses insecticidal activities against a wide range of pests. However, whether environmentally realistic exposure levels of rotenone can damage neurons in bumblebee brains is still uncertain.

Geographical resistome profiling in the honeybee microbiome reveals resistance gene transfer conferred by mobilizable plasmids.

Background: The spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) has been of global concern as one of the greatest environmental threats. The gut microbiome of animals has been found to be a large reservoir of ARGs, which is also an indicator of the environmental antibiotic spectrum. The conserved microbiota makes the honeybee a tractable and confined ecosystem for studying the maintenance and transfer of ARGs across gut bacteria.

Honeybee gut Lactobacillus modulates host learning and memory behaviors via regulating tryptophan metabolism.

Honeybees are highly social insects with a rich behavioral repertoire and are a versatile model for neurobiological research. Their gut microbiota comprises a limited number of host-restricted bacterial phylotypes that are important for honeybee health. However, it remains unclear how specific gut members affect honeybee behaviors.

Distinct Roles of Honeybee Gut Bacteria on Host Metabolism and Neurological Processes.

The honeybee possesses a limited number of bacterial phylotypes that play essential roles in host metabolism, hormonal signaling, and feeding behavior. However, the contribution of individual gut members in shaping honeybee brain profiles remains unclear. By generating gnotobiotic bees which were mono-colonized by a single gut bacterium, we revealed that different species regulated specific modules of metabolites in the hemolymph.

Honey bee genetics shape the strain-level structure of gut microbiota in social transmission.

Background: Honey bee gut microbiota transmitted via social interactions are beneficial to the host health. Although the microbial community is relatively stable, individual variations and high strain-level diversity have been detected across honey bees. Although the bee gut microbiota structure is influenced by environmental factors, the heritability of the gut members and the contribution of the host genetics remains elusive.

Strain-level analysis reveals the vertical microbial transmission during the life cycle of bumblebee.

Background: Microbial acquisition and development of the gut microbiota impact the establishment of a healthy host-microbes symbiosis. Compared with other animals, the eusocial bumblebees and honeybees possess a simple, recurring, and similar set of gut microbiota. However, all bee gut phylotypes have high strain-level diversity.

Commonly and Specifically Activated Defense Responses in Maize Disease Lesion Mimic Mutants Revealed by Integrated Transcriptomics and Metabolomics Analysis.

Disease lesion mimic (/) mutants display disease-like spontaneous lesions in the absence of pathogen infection, implying the constitutive activation of defense responses. However, the genetic and biochemical bases underlying the activated defense responses in those mutants remain largely unknown. Here, we performed integrated transcriptomics and metabolomics analysis on three typical maize mutants , , and with large, medium, and small lesion size, respectively, thereby dissecting the activated defense responses at the transcriptional and metabolomic level.

High-Fat Diets with Differential Fatty Acids Induce Obesity and Perturb Gut Microbiota in Honey Bee.

HFD (high-fat diet) induces obesity and metabolic disorders, which is associated with the alteration in gut microbiota profiles. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of the processes are poorly understood. In this study, we used the simple model organism honey bee to explore how different amounts and types of dietary fats affect the host metabolism and the gut microbiota.

The physiological response of photosynthesis to nitrogen deficiency.

Nitrogen (N), as a macro-element, plays a vital role in plant growth and development. N deficiency affects plant productivity by decreasing photosynthesis, leaf area and longevity of green leaf. To date, many studies have reported that the relationship between photosynthesis and N supply.

Novel compound heterozygous mutation in WEE2 is associated with fertilization failure: case report of an infertile woman and literature review.

Background: Fertilization failure after intracytoplasmic sperm injection continues to affect couples and the etiology is not well-understood.

Case Presentation: We characterized a couple with 2-year history of primary unexplained infertility. Three different assisted reproduction attempts (IVF + rescue ICSI, ICSI and ICSI-AOA) showed repeated fertilization failure for MII oocyte retrieval after controlled ovarian hyperstimulation.

Evolutionary analyses of NIN-like proteins in plants and their roles in nitrate signaling.

Nitrogen (N) is one of the most important essential macro-elements for plant growth and development, and nitrate represents the most abundant inorganic form of N in soils. The nitrate uptake and assimilation processes are finely tuned according to the available nitrate in the surroundings as well as by the internal finely coordinated signaling pathways. The NIN-like proteins (NLPs) harbor both RWP-RK, and Phox and Bem1 (PB1) domains, and they belong to the well-characterized plant-specific RWP-RK transcription factor gene family.

[Role of Rictor in Hematopoietic Stem Cells during Fetal Liver Hematopoiesis].

Objective: To investigate the effect of Rictor on the hematopoiesis of fetal liver by specific knock-out of Rictor in hematopoietic cells of Vav-Cre mice.

Methods: E12.5 0.

Dynamic remobilization of leaf nitrogen components in relation to photosynthetic rate during grain filling in maize.

Remobilization of leaf nitrogen (N) contributes greatly to grain N in maize, but leads to low photosynthetic rate (P). P is determined by various N components involving in light harvest and CO reduction. However, it is less clear which N component is the major contributor for the reduction of photosynthesis in modern stay-green maize hybrids.

A RNA-Seq Analysis of the Response of Photosynthetic System to Low Nitrogen Supply in Maize Leaf.

Nitrogen is a major limiting factor for crop productivity. The relationship between photosynthesis and nitrogen nutrition has been widely studied. However, the molecular response of leaf photosynthesis to low nitrogen supply in crops is less clear.