In Asian rice systems, Cyrtorhinus lividipennis Reuter is an important predator that preys on rice planthopper eggs and young nymphs, as a primary food source. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) acts in many physiological and biochemical processes in insects. We cloned the full-length complementary DNA of C. lividipennis ClALT. Expression analysis showed higher expression in the fat body and midgut compared to other tissues. It is expressed in all C. lividipennis developmental stages and at least four organs. Silencing of ClALT by RNA interference significantly decreased the ClALT enzyme activity and ClALT expression compared to dsGFP-treated controls at 2 days after emergence (DAE). Silencing of ClALT influenced free hemolymph amino acid compositions, resulting in a reduction of Aspartic acid (Asp) and Alanine (Ala) proportions, and increased Cysteine (Cys) and Valine (Val) proportions in females at 2 DAE. dsClALT treatments led to decreased soluble total protein concentrations in ovary and fat body, and to lower reduced vitellogenin (Vg) expression, body weight, and the numbers of laid eggs. The double-stranded RNA viruse treatments also led to prolonged preoviposition periods and hindered ovarian development. Western blot analysis indicated that silencing ClALT also led to reduced fat body Vg protein abundance at 2 DAE. These data support our hypothesis that ClALT influences amino acid metabolism and fecundity in C. lividipennis.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/arch.21836 | DOI Listing |
J Phys Chem B
January 2025
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602, United States.
Macrocyclization or stapling is an important strategy for increasing the conformational stability and target-binding affinity of peptides and proteins, especially in therapeutic contexts. Atomistic simulations of such stapled peptides and proteins could help rationalize existing experimental data and provide predictive tools for the design of new stapled peptides and proteins. Standard approaches exist for incorporating nonstandard amino acids and functional groups into the force fields required for MD simulations and have been used in the context of stapling for more than a decade.
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Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Changzhou, China.
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Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital.
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Recent Findings: Research comparing different feeding schedules in critically ill adults remains limited.
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Institute of Microbiology, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zurich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 4, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
Janustatin A is a potently cytotoxic polyketide alkaloid produced at trace amounts by the marine bacterial plant symbiont . Its biosynthetic terminus features an unusual pyridine-containing bicyclic system of unclear origin, in which polyketide and amino acid extension units appear reversed compared to the order of enzymatic modules in the polyketide synthase (PKS)-nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) assembly line. To elucidate unknown steps in heterocycle formation, we first established robust genome engineering tools in .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFScience
January 2025
NOMIS Center for Immunobiology and Microbial Pathogenesis, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, USA.
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