Influence of Dietary Lipids on Survival of Phyciodes phaon Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)

2004 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanife Genc ◽  
James L. Nation

The Phaon crescent butterfly, Phyciodes phaon (Edwards), can be reared by placing newly-eclosed larvae on a pinto bean-based artificial diet; however, the adults fail to reproduce. Addition of 10% (w/w) of freeze-dried leaves of the host plant, Phyla nodiflora (L.) Greene, to the artificial diet approximately doubled the number of adults produced, and females oviposited viable eggs. Addition of wheat germ oil, linseed oil, or olive oil to the artificial diet without host plant tissue also increased survival to the adult stage, but adult females failed to oviposit. Larvae and adults reared from the artificial diet with addition of any one of the oils contained a higher quantity of linolenic acid in their body lipids than those reared on the artificial diet without additional oil. Leaves of the larval host plant are especially rich in the polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic acid and linolenic acid; whereas, the pinto bean diet is relatively low in these fatty acids, especially linolenic acid. Addition of synthetic β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, and campesterol, the sterols identified in the host plant leaves, to the artificial diet improved neither larval nor adult survival, and adult females did not oviposit. The factor (or factors) present in host plant leaves and acquired during larval feeding that enables reproduction of adults remains to be identified.

2008 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
pp. 440-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silke De Spirt ◽  
Wilhelm Stahl ◽  
Hagen Tronnier ◽  
Helmut Sies ◽  
Marie Bejot ◽  
...  

Ingestion of selected nutrients modulates dermal properties. In the present study, two groups of women ingested flaxseed or borage oil for 12 weeks. The control group received a placebo containing medium-chain fatty acids. Dose was 2·2 g total fatty acids/d with α-linolenic acid and linoleic acid as major constituents in the flaxseed oil group; in the borage oil group linoleic and γ-linolenic acid were predominant. In the flaxseed oil group, the contribution of α-linolenic acid to total fatty acids in plasma was significantly increased on weeks 6 and 12, whereas there was an increase in γ-linolenic acid in the borage oil group (P < 0·05). Skin irritation was performed by nicotinate treatment, and changes in skin reddening and blood flow were monitored. Compared to week 0, skin reddening was diminished in both groups; blood flow was also lowered. Skin hydration was significantly increased after 12 weeks of treatment compared to week 0, with flaxseed or borage oil (P < 0·05). Transepidermal water loss was decreased in both oil groups by about 10 % after 6 weeks of supplementation. A further decrease was determined after 12 weeks in the flaxseed oil group. Surface evaluation of living skin revealed that roughness and scaling of the skin were significantly decreased with flaxseed and borage oil comparing week 0 and week 12 (P < 0·05). Except for hydration, none of the parameters was affected in the placebo group. The present data provide evidence that skin properties can be modulated by an intervention with dietary lipids.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruna Laís Merlin ◽  
Gilberto J Moraes ◽  
Fernando L Cônsoli

Abstract Microbiota have diverse roles in the life cycles of their hosts, affecting their growth, development, behavior, and reproduction. Changes in physiological conditions of the host can also impact the assemblage of host-associated microorganisms. However, little is known of the effects of host plant–prey–predatory mite interactions on mite microbiota. We compared the microbial communities of eggs and adult females of the two˗spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae) and of adult females of the predatory mite Neoseiulus californicus (McGregor) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) on four different host plants (cotton, maize, pinto bean, and tomato) by metabarcoding sequencing of the V3–V4 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene (16S rRNA), using the Illumina MiSeq platform. Only the egg microbiota of T. urticae was affected by the host plant. The microbiota of the predatory mite N. californicus was very different from that of its prey, and the predator microbiota was unaffected by the different host plant–prey systems tested. Only the microbiota of the eggs of T. urticae carried Serratia as a high fidelity-biomarker. Biomarker bacteria were also detected in the microbiota of adult females of T. urticae and N. californicus, with different biomarkers in each host-plant species. The microbiota associated with eggs and adult females of T. urticae and adult females of N. californicus differed in their potential contributions to the host mite.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-43
Author(s):  
Leslie Couëdelo ◽  
Benjamin Buaud ◽  
Hélène Abrous ◽  
Ikram Chamekh-Coelho ◽  
Didier Majou ◽  
...  

Abstract We investigated the impact of increased alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) dietary levels on its plasma bioavailability and its bioconversion in n-3 long chain poly unsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) during a 60-day kinetics and the oxidative stress potentially associated. Rats were submitted to a normolipidic diet providing 0, 3, 10 and 24% ALA of dietary lipids during a kinetics of 0, 15, 30 and 60 days. The lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress (nitric oxide (NO) contents and catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), gluthation peroxidase (GPx) activities) were studied in the liver and plasma. Data demonstrated that when the diet was deprived in n-3 PUFAs, ALA, (eicosanoic acid) EPA and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) levels decreased in all lipid fractions of plasma and in red blood cell (RBC) lipids. However when ALA was added in the diet, its bioavailability and its bioconversion in EPA was linearly correlated with the ALA intake (R2=0.98). When the diet provided 10 to 24% ALA in dietary lipids (LA/ALA, 1.6 and 5.5 respectively), ALA and EPA were more broadly packaged in all lipid fractions (triglyceride (TG), cholesterol ester (CE) and free fatty acids (FFA)) of plasma from 15 to 30 days timeframe. However only 3% ALA in the lipid diet was sufficient to promote the maximal bioconversion of ALA in DHA in phospholipid (PL) and TG fractions. Additionally, the improvement of ALA bioconversion in EPA and DHA did not impact the oxidative stress markers wich can limit lipid peroxidation. To conclude, this study demonstrated that 10% ALA in the diet for 15-30 days is the gold diet to promote its bioavailability and its bioconversion in n-3 PUFAs in rat and allowed the greatest levels in plasma and RBCs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lihong Ma ◽  
Xinqi Cheng ◽  
Chuan Wang ◽  
Xinyu Zhang ◽  
Fei Xue ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Cottonseed is one of the major sources of vegetable oil. Analysis of the dynamic changes of fatty acid components and the genes regulating the composition of fatty acids of cottonseed oil is of great significance for understanding the biological processes underlying biosynthesis of fatty acids and for genetic improving the oil nutritional qualities. Results In this study, we investigated the dynamic relationship of 13 fatty acid components at 12 developmental time points of cottonseed (Gossypium hirsutum L.) and generated cottonseed transcriptome of the 12 time points. At 5–15 day post anthesis (DPA), the contents of polyunsaturated linolenic acid (C18:3n-3) and saturated stearic acid (C18:0) were higher, while linoleic acid (C18:2n-6) was mainly synthesized after 15 DPA. Using 5 DPA as a reference, 15,647 non-redundant differentially expressed genes were identified in 10–60 DPA cottonseed. Co-expression gene network analysis identified six modules containing 3275 genes significantly associated with middle-late seed developmental stages and enriched with genes related to the linoleic acid metabolic pathway and α-linolenic acid metabolism. Genes (Gh_D03G0588 and Gh_A02G1788) encoding stearoyl-ACP desaturase were identified as hub genes and significantly up-regulated at 25 DPA. They seemed to play a decisive role in determining the ratio of saturated fatty acids to unsaturated fatty acids. FAD2 genes (Gh_A13G1850 and Gh_D13G2238) were highly expressed at 25–50 DPA, eventually leading to the high content of C18:2n-6 in cottonseed. The content of C18:3n-3 was significantly decreased from 5 DPA (7.44%) to 25 DPA (0.11%) and correlated with the expression characteristics of Gh_A09G0848 and Gh_D09G0870. Conclusions These results contribute to our understanding on the relationship between the accumulation pattern of fatty acid components and the expression characteristics of key genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis during the entire period of cottonseed development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Goc ◽  
Aleksandra Niedzwiecki ◽  
Matthias Rath

AbstractThe strain SARS-CoV-2, newly emerged in late 2019, has been identified as the cause of COVID-19 and the pandemic declared by WHO in early 2020. Although lipids have been shown to possess antiviral efficacy, little is currently known about lipid compounds with anti-SARS-CoV-2 binding and entry properties. To address this issue, we screened, overall, 17 polyunsaturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids and saturated fatty acids, as wells as lipid-soluble vitamins. In performing target-based ligand screening utilizing the RBD-SARS-CoV-2 sequence, we observed that polyunsaturated fatty acids most effectively interfere with binding to hACE2, the receptor for SARS-CoV-2. Using a spike protein pseudo-virus, we also found that linolenic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid significantly block the entry of SARS-CoV-2. In addition, eicosapentaenoic acid showed higher efficacy than linolenic acid in reducing activity of TMPRSS2 and cathepsin L proteases, but neither of the fatty acids affected their expression at the protein level. Also, neither reduction of hACE2 activity nor binding to the hACE2 receptor upon treatment with these two fatty acids was observed. Although further in vivo experiments are warranted to validate the current findings, our study provides a new insight into the role of lipids as antiviral compounds against the SARS-CoV-2 strain.


Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1868
Author(s):  
Tuck Seng Cheng ◽  
Felix R. Day ◽  
John R. B. Perry ◽  
Jian’an Luan ◽  
Claudia Langenberg ◽  
...  

Dietary intakes of polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and saturated fatty acids (FAs) have been inconsistently associated with puberty timing. We examined longitudinal associations of prepubertal dietary and plasma phospholipid FAs with several puberty timing traits in boys and girls. In the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, prepubertal fat intakes at 3–7.5 years and plasma phospholipid FAs at 7.5 years were measured. Timings of Tanner stage 2 genital or breast development and voice breaking or menarche from repeated reports at 8–17 years, and age at peak height velocity (PHV) from repeated height measurements at 5–20 years were estimated. In linear regression models with adjustment for maternal and infant characteristics, dietary substitution of polyunsaturated FAs for saturated FAs, and higher concentrations of dihomo-γ-linolenic acid (20:3n6) and palmitoleic acid (16:1n7) were associated with earlier timing of puberty traits in girls (n = 3872) but not boys (n = 3654). In Mendelian Randomization models, higher genetically predicted circulating dihomo-γ-linolenic acid was associated with earlier menarche in girls. Based on repeated dietary intake data, objectively measured FAs and genetic causal inference, these findings suggest that dietary and endogenous metabolic pathways that increase plasma dihomo-γ-linolenic acid, an intermediate metabolite of n-6 polyunsaturated FAs, may promote earlier puberty timing in girls.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 5941
Author(s):  
Abigail Ngugi-Dawit ◽  
Isaac Njaci ◽  
Thomas J.V. Higgins ◽  
Brett Williams ◽  
Sita R. Ghimire ◽  
...  

Pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh] is an economically important legume playing a crucial role in the semi-arid tropics. Pigeonpea is susceptible to Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner), which causes devastating yield losses. This pest is developing resistance to many commercially available insecticides. Therefore, crop wild relatives of pigeonpea, are being considered as potential sources of genes to expand the genetic base of cultivated pigeonpea to improve traits such as host plant resistance to pests and pathogens. Quantitative proteomic analysis was conducted using the tandem mass tag platform to identify differentially abundant proteins between IBS 3471 and ICPL 87 tolerant accession and susceptible variety to H. armigera, respectively. Leaf proteome were analysed at the vegetative and flowering/podding growth stages. H. armigera tolerance in IBS 3471 appeared to be related to enhanced defence responses, such as changes in secondary metabolite precursors, antioxidants, and the phenylpropanoid pathway. The development of larvae fed on an artificial diet with IBS 3471 lyophilised leaves showed similar inhibition with those fed on an artificial diet with quercetin concentrations with 32 mg/25 g of artificial diet. DAB staining (3,3’-diaminobenzidine) revealed a rapid accumulation of reactive oxygen species in IBS 3471. We conclude that IBS 3471 is an ideal candidate for improving the genetic base of cultivated pigeonpea, including traits for host plant resistance.


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