Complete nutrient content of four species of commercially available feeder insects fed enhanced diets during growth

Commercially raised feeder insects used to feed captive insectivores are a good source of many nutrients but are deficient in several key nutrients. Current methods used to supplement insects include dusting and gut‐loading. Here, we report on the nutrient composition of four species of commercially raised feeder insects fed a special diet to enhance their nutrient content. Crickets, mealworms, superworms, and waxworms were analyzed for moisture, crude protein, fat, ash, acid detergent fiber, total dietary fiber, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, taurine, carotenoids, inositol, and cholesterol. All four species contained enhanced levels of vitamin E and omega 3 fatty acids when compared to previously published data for these species. Crickets, superworms, and mealworms contained β‐carotene although using standard conversion factors only crickets and superworms would likely contain sufficient vitamin A activity for most species of insectivores. Waxworms did not contain any detectable β‐carotene but did contain zeaxanthin which they likely converted from dietary β‐carotene. All four species contained significant amounts of both inositol and cholesterol. Like previous reports all insects were a poor source of calcium and only superworms contained vitamin D above the limit of detection. When compared to the nutrient requirements as established by the NRC for growing rats or poultry, these species were good sources of most other nutrients although the high fat and low moisture content of both waxworms and superworms means when corrected for energy density these two species were deficient in more nutrients than crickets or mealworms. These data show the value of modifying the diet of commercially available insects as they are growing to enhance their nutrient content. They also suggest that for most insectivores properly supplemented lower fat insects such as crickets, or smaller mealworms should form the bulk of the diet. Zoo Biol. 34:554–564, 2015. © 2015 The Authors. Zoo Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A rapid and simple procedure for the depletion of abundant storage proteins from legume seeds to advance proteome analysis: A case study using Glycine max

2‐D analysis of plant proteomes containing thousands of proteins has limited dynamic resolution because only abundant proteins can be detected. Proteomic assessment of the non‐abundant proteins within seeds is difficult when 60–80% is storage proteins. Resolution can be improved through sample fractionation using separation techniques based upon different physiological or biochemical principles. We have developed a fast and simple fractionation technique using 10 mM Ca²⁺ to precipitate soybean (Glycine max) seed storage globulins, glycinin and β‐conglycinin. This method removes 87±4% of the highly abundant seed proteins from the extract, allowing for 541 previously inconspicuous proteins present in soybean seed to be more detectable (volume increase of ≥50%) using fluorescent detection. Of those 541 enhanced spots, 197 increased more than 2.5‐fold when visualized with Coomassie. The majority of those spots were isolated and identified using peptide mass fingerprinting. Fractionation also provided detection of 63 new phosphorylated protein spots and enhanced the visibility of 15 phosphorylated protein spots, using 2‐D electrophoretic separation and an in‐gel phosphoprotein stain. Application of this methodology toward other legumes, such as peanut, bean, pea, alfalfa and others, also containing high amounts of storage proteins, was examined, and is reported here.     

Tanshinone II A improves the chemosensitivity of breast cancer cells to doxorubicin by inhibiting β‐catenin nuclear translocation

Numerous evidence link aberrant nuclear β‐catenin accumulation to the development of breast cancer resistance, therefore, targeted inhibition of β‐catenin nuclear translocation may effectively improve the chemosensitivity of breast cancer. Doxorubicin (Dox) is the most commonly used chemotherapeutic drug for breast cancer. Here, we determined that tanshinone II A (Tan II A) could improve the sensitivity of Dox‐resistant breast cancer MCF‐7/dox cells to Dox, and evaluated whether the sensitization effect of Tan II A on Dox was targeted to inhibit β‐catenin nuclear translocation. The results showed that Tan II A not only significantly inhibited the nuclear translocation of β‐catenin in MCF‐7/dox cells treated by Dox but also inhibited the nuclear translocation of β‐catenin in MCF‐7 cells treated by Dox to a certain degree. Furthermore, when the above two cells treated by Dox combined with Tan II A were intervened with β‐catenin agonist WAY‐262611, with the re‐nuclear translocation of β‐catenin in the cells, the sensitization effect of Tan II A on Dox was greatly reduced. These results indicated that Tan II A could improve the chemosensitivity of breast cancer cells to Dox by inhibiting β‐catenin nuclear translocation. Therefore, Tan II A could be used as a potential chemosensitizer in combination with Dox for breast cancer chemotherapy.