scholarly journals Ultrabithorax is essential for bacteriocyte development

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (30) ◽  
pp. 9376-9381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Matsuura ◽  
Yoshitomo Kikuchi ◽  
Toru Miura ◽  
Takema Fukatsu
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Developmental Biology ◽  
Infection Process ◽  
Host Cells ◽  
Homeotic Genes ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Developmental Mechanisms ◽  
Novel Host ◽  
Hemipteran Insect ◽  
Microbial Symbionts ◽  
Germband Retraction

Symbiosis often entails the emergence of novel adaptive traits in organisms. Microbial symbionts are indispensable for diverse insects via provisioning of essential nutrients, wherein novel host cells and organs for harboring the microbes, called bacteriocytes and bacteriomes, have evolved repeatedly. Molecular and developmental mechanisms underpinning the emergence of novel symbiotic cells and organs comprise an unsolved question in evolutionary developmental biology. Here, we report that a conserved homeotic gene, Ultrabithorax, plays a pivotal role in the bacteriocyte differentiation in a hemipteran insect Nysius plebeius. During embryonic development, six pairs of aggregated presumptive bacteriocytes appear on both sides of six abdominal segments, incorporate the symbiotic bacteria at the stage of germband retraction, and fuse into a pair of lateral bacteriomes at the stage of germband flip, where bacteriocyte-associated Ultrabithorax expression coincides with the symbiont infection process. Suppression of Ultrabithorax expression by maternal RNA interference results in disappearance of the bacteriocytes and the symbiont localization therein, suggesting that Ultrabithorax is involved in differentiation of the host cells for symbiosis. Suppression of other homeotic genes abdominal-A and Antennapedia disturbs integrity and positioning of the bacteriomes, affecting the configuration of the host organs for symbiosis. Our findings unveil the molecular and developmental mechanisms underlying the bacteriocyte differentiation, which may have evolved either via cooption of the transcription factors for inducing the novel symbiotic cells, or via revival of the developmental pathway for the bacteriocytes that had existed in the ancestral hemipterans.

Carbohydrate-Binding Agents: Potential of Repurposing for COVID-19 Therapy

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 1085-1096 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajesh Kumar Gupta ◽  
Girish R. Apte ◽  
Kiran Bharat Lokhande ◽  
Satyendra Mishra ◽  
Jayanta K. Pal
Keyword(s):  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Host Cells ◽  
Carbohydrate Binding ◽  
Atypical Pneumonia ◽  
The Novel ◽  
High Infection ◽  
Binding Agents ◽  
Current Scenario ◽  
Antiviral Activities ◽  
Novel Drug

: With the emergence of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the whole world is suffering from atypical pneumonia, which resulted in more than 559,047 deaths worldwide. In this time of crisis and urgency, the only hope comes from new candidate vaccines and potential antivirals. However, formulating new vaccines and synthesizing new antivirals are a laborious task. Therefore, considering the high infection rate and mortality due to COVID-19, utilization of previous information, and repurposing of existing drugs against valid viral targets have emerged as a novel drug discovery approach in this challenging time. The transmembrane spike (S) glycoprotein of coronaviruses (CoVs), which facilitates the virus’s entry into the host cells, exists in a homotrimeric form and is covered with N-linked glycans. S glycoprotein is known as the main target of antibodies having neutralizing potency and is also considered as an attractive target for therapeutic or vaccine development. Similarly, targeting of N-linked glycans of S glycoprotein envelope of CoV via carbohydrate-binding agents (CBAs) could serve as an attractive therapeutic approach for developing novel antivirals. CBAs from natural sources like lectins from plants, marine algae and prokaryotes and lectin mimics like Pradimicin-A (PRM-A) have shown antiviral activities against CoV and other enveloped viruses. However, the potential use of CBAs specifically lectins was limited due to unfavorable responses like immunogenicity, mitogenicity, hemagglutination, inflammatory activity, cellular toxicity, etc. Here, we reviewed the current scenario of CBAs as antivirals against CoVs, presented strategies to improve the efficacy of CBAs against CoVs; and studied the molecular interactions between CBAs (lectins and PRM-A) with Man9 by molecular docking for potential repurposing against CoVs in general, and SARSCoV- 2, in particular.

Host-vector systems

1989 ◽  
Vol 324 (1224) ◽  
pp. 477-485 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Manipulation ◽  
Pharmaceutical Products ◽  
Host Cells ◽  
Animal Cells ◽  
Vector Systems ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Novel Host ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
Foreign Genes ◽  
New Generation

In 1980 it was only possible to express foreign genes in bacteria and a few easily cultured animal cells. During the subsequent eight years specialized vectors have been developed to allow the genetic manipulation of a wide range of both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. One of the major goals of biotechnology in 1980 was to use host cells as ‘factories’ for the production of proteins that were only available in minute quantities from natural sources. This has already lead to a new generation of pharmaceutical products. Advances in our understanding of host-vector systems have defined new goals. The basic concepts of expression vector design will be illustrated. Some of the new goals are discussed with particular reference to the exploitation of novel host-vector systems to develop vaccines and anti-viral agents against AIDS.

Ewolucja. Twórcza moc selekcji

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerzy Dzik
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Biology ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Evolutionary Developmental Biology ◽  
Homeotic Genes ◽  
Time Dimension ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Theory Of Evolution

An instructive introduction to the theory of evolution and its applications in biology, physics, chemistry, geology and humanities. The author shows that evolution is a physical process, occurring in geological time dimension, describes how the Darwin’s theory of natural selection works in immunology, neurobiology, sociology as well as in certain aspects of culture and political institutions. He also shows the effects achieved through the action of selection in different areas of biological and social life. He discusses such problems as: the ambiguity of the term “theory of evolution”, the falsifiability of evolutionary hypotheses, connection between evolution and thermodynamics, the concept of reductionism, methodological background of phylogenetics, cladistics, evolutionary developmental biology and homeotic genes, as well as the cumulative nature of social and cultural evolution.

The illustrated life cycle of Microbotryum on the host plant Silene latifolia

Botany ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 88 (10) ◽  
pp. 875-885 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Maria Schäfer ◽  
Martin Kemler ◽  
Robert Bauer ◽  
Dominik Begerow
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Light And Electron Microscopy ◽  
Laboratory Data ◽  
Infection Process ◽  
Host Cells ◽  
Silene Latifolia ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Biological Studies ◽  
Plant Parasitic

The plant-parasitic genus Microbotryum (Pucciniomycotina) has been used as a model for various biological studies, but fundamental aspects of its life history have not been documented in detail. The smut fungus is characterized by a dimorphic life cycle with a haploid saprophytic yeast-like stage and a dikaryotic plant-parasitic stage, which bears the teliospores as dispersal agents. In this study, seedlings and flowers of Silene latifolia Poir. (Caryophyllaceae) were inoculated with teliospores or sporidial cells of Microbotryum lychnidis-dioicae (DC. ex Liro) G. Deml & Oberw. and the germination of teliospores, the infection process, and the proliferation in the host tissue were documented in vivo using light and electron microscopy. Although germination of the teliospore is crucial for the establishment of Microbotryum, basidium development is variable under natural conditions. In flowers, where the amount of nutrients is thought to be high, the fungus propagates as sporidia, and mating of compatible cells takes place only when flowers are withering and nutrients are decreasing. On cotyledons (i.e., nutrient-depleted conditions), conjugation occurs shortly after teliospore germination, often via intrapromycelial mating. After formation of an infectious hypha with an appressorium, the invasion of the host occurs by direct penetration of the epidermis. While the growth in the plant is typically intercellular, long distance proliferation seems mediated through xylem tracheary elements. At the beginning of the vegetation period, fungal cells were found between meristematic shoot host cells, indicating a dormant phase inside the plant. By using different microscopy techniques, many life stages of Microbotryum are illustrated for the first time, thereby allowing new interpretations of laboratory data.

scholarly journals The Novel Agrotis ipsilon Nora Virus Confers Deleterious Effects to the Fitness of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tong Li ◽  
Ruobing Guan ◽  
Yuqing Wu ◽  
Su Chen ◽  
Guohui Yuan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spodoptera Frugiperda ◽  
Rna Virus ◽  
Open Reading Frames ◽  
Agrotis Ipsilon ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Black Cutworm ◽  
A Genome ◽  
Nora Virus ◽  
Novel Host ◽  
Lepidoptera Noctuidae

In the present study, we identified a novel, positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus in the Chinese black cutworm, Agrotis ipsilon. It has a genome length of 11,312 nucleotides, excluding the poly(A) tails, and contains five open reading frames. The ORF2 encodes the conserved domains of RNA helicase and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, while ORF4 and 5 encode three viral proteins. Herein, the A. ipsilon virus was clustered with a Helicoverpa armigera Nora virus and was thus provisionally named “Agrotis ipsilon Nora virus” (AINV). AINV was successfully transmitted into a novel host, Spodoptera frugiperda, through injection, causing a stable infection. This found the possibility of horizontal AINV transmission among moths belonging to the same taxonomic family. Nonetheless, AINV infection was deleterious to S. frugiperda and mainly mediated by antiviral and amino acid metabolism-related pathways. Furthermore, the infection significantly increased the S. frugiperda larval period but significantly reduced its moth eclosion rate. It suggests that AINV is probably to be a parasitic virus of S. frugiperda.

scholarly journals An endometrial organoid model of Chlamydia-epithelial and immune cell interactions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Dolat ◽  
Raphael H. Valdivia
Keyword(s):  
Epithelial Cell ◽  
Cell Biology ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Infection Process ◽  
Host Cells ◽  
Cell Diversity ◽  
Intracellular Organelles

ABSTRACTOur understanding of how the obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis reprograms the cell biology of host cells in the upper genital tract is largely based on observations made in cell culture with transformed epithelial cell lines. Here we describe a primary spherical organoid system derived from endometrial tissue to recapitulate epithelial cell diversity, polarity, and ensuing responses to Chlamydia infection. Using high-resolution and time-lapse microscopy, we catalogue the infection process in organoids from invasion to egress, including the reorganization of the cytoskeleton and positioning of intracellular organelles. We show this model is amenable to screening C. trachomatis mutants for defects in the fusion of pathogenic vacuoles, the recruitment of intracellular organelles, and inhibition of cell death. Moreover, we reconstructed a primary immune cell response by co-culturing infected organoids with neutrophils, and determined that the effector TepP limits the recruitment of neutrophils to infected organoids. Collectively, our model details a system to study the cell biology of Chlamydia infections in three dimensional structures that better reflect the diversity of cell types and polarity encountered by Chlamydia upon infection of their animal hosts.Summary statement3D endometrial organoids to model Chlamydia infection and the role of secreted virulence factors in reprogramming host epithelial cells and immune cell recruitment

Invasion of Toxoplasma gondii occurs by active penetration of the host cell

1995 ◽  
Vol 108 (6) ◽  
pp. 2457-2464 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.H. Morisaki ◽  
J.E. Heuser ◽  
L.D. Sibley
Keyword(s):  
Toxoplasma Gondii ◽  
Host Cell ◽  
Tyrosine Phosphorylation ◽  
Host Cells ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Host Proteins ◽  
Host Cell Membrane ◽  
Membrane Ruffling ◽  
Obligate Intracellular ◽  
Obligate Intracellular Parasite

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that infects a wide variety of vertebrate cells including macrophages. We have used a combination of video microscopy and fluorescence localization to examine the entry of Toxoplasma into macrophages and nonphagocytic host cells. Toxoplasma actively invaded host cells without inducing host cell membrane ruffling, actin microfilament reorganization, or tyrosine phosphorylation of host proteins. Invasion occurred rapidly and within 25–40 seconds the parasite penetrated into a tight-fitting vacuole formed by invagination of the plasma membrane. In contrast, during phagocytosis of Toxoplasma, extensive membrane ruffling captured the parasite in a loose-fitting phagosome that formed over a period of 2–4 minutes. Phagocytosis involved both reorganization of the host cytoskeleton and tyrosine phosphorylation of host proteins. In some cases, parasites that were first internalized by phagocytosis, were able to escape from the phagosome by a process analogous to invasion. These studies reveal that active penetration of the host cell by Toxoplasma is fundamentally different from phagocytosis or induced endocytic uptake. The novel ability to penetrate the host cell likely contributes to the capability of Toxoplasma-containing vacuoles to avoid endocytic processing.

Evolutionary developmental biology of the tetrapod limb

Development ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 1994 (Supplement) ◽  
pp. 163-168
Author(s):  
J. Richard Hinchliffe
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Developmental Biology ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Homeobox Gene ◽  
Evolutionary Developmental Biology ◽  
Epigenetic Factors ◽  
Limb Buds ◽  
Developmental Mechanisms ◽  
Direct Gene ◽  
Embryological Analysis

New insights into the origin of the tetrapod limb, and its early development and patterning, are emerging from a variety of fields. A wide diversity of approaches was reported at the BSDB Spring Symposium on `The Evolution of Developmental Mechanisms' (Edinburgh, 1994); here I review the contributions these various approaches have made to understanding the evolutionary developmental biology of the tetrapod limb. The fields covered included palaeontology, descriptive embryology, experimental embryological analysis of interactions within developing limbs plus description and manipulation of homeobox gene expression in early limb buds. Concepts are equally varied, sometimes conflicting, sometimes overlapping. Some concern the limb `archetype' (can the palaeontologists and morphologists still define this with precision? how far is there a limb developmental bauplan?); others are based on identification of epigenetic factors (eg secondary inductions), as generating pattern; while yet others assume a direct gene-morphology relationship. But all the contributors ask the same compelling question: can we explain both the similarity (homology) and variety of tetrapod limbs (and the fins of the Crossopterygians) in terms of developmental mechanisms?

scholarly journals Genomic Insights Into the Lifestyles of Thaumarchaeota Inside Sponges

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Haber ◽  
Ilia Burgsdorf ◽  
Kim M. Handley ◽  
Maxim Rubin-Blum ◽  
Laura Steindler
Keyword(s):  
The Novel ◽  
Glycine Cleavage System ◽  
Free Living ◽  
High Affinity ◽  
Branched Chain Amino Acid ◽  
Glycine Cleavage ◽  
Microbial Symbionts ◽  
Host Sponge ◽  
Branched Chain ◽  
Sponge Symbionts

Sponges are among the oldest metazoans and their success is partly due to their abundant and diverse microbial symbionts. They are one of the few animals that have Thaumarchaeota symbionts. Here we compare genomes of 11 Thaumarchaeota sponge symbionts, including three new genomes, to free-living ones. Like their free-living counterparts, sponge-associated Thaumarchaeota can oxidize ammonia, fix carbon, and produce several vitamins. Adaptions to life inside the sponge host include enrichment in transposases, toxin-antitoxin systems and restriction modifications systems, enrichments previously reported also from bacterial sponge symbionts. Most thaumarchaeal sponge symbionts lost the ability to synthesize rhamnose, which likely alters their cell surface and allows them to evade digestion by the host. All but one archaeal sponge symbiont encoded a high-affinity, branched-chain amino acid transporter system that was absent from the analyzed free-living thaumarchaeota suggesting a mixotrophic lifestyle for the sponge symbionts. Most of the other unique features found in sponge-associated Thaumarchaeota, were limited to only a few specific symbionts. These features included the presence of exopolyphosphatases and a glycine cleavage system found in the novel genomes. Thaumarchaeota have thus likely highly specific interactions with their sponge host, which is supported by the limited number of host sponge species to which each of these symbionts is restricted.

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