Sucralose Induces Biochemical Responses in Daphnia magna

The intense artificial sweetener sucralose has no bioconcentration properties, and no adverse acute toxic effects have been observed in standard ecotoxicity tests, suggesting negligible environmental risk. However, significant feeding and behavioural alterations have been reported in non-standard tests using aquatic crustaceans, indicating possible sublethal effects. We hypothesized that these effects are related to alterations in acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and oxidative status in the exposed animals and investigated changes in AChE and oxidative biomarkers (oxygen radical absorbing capacity, ORAC, and lipid peroxidation, TBARS) in the crustacean Daphnia magna exposed to sucralose (0.0001–5 mg L⁻¹). The sucralose concentration was a significant positive predictor for ORAC, TBARS and AChE in the daphnids. Moreover, the AChE response was linked to both oxidative biomarkers, with positive and negative relationships for TBARS and ORAC, respectively. These joint responses support our hypothesis and suggest that exposure to sucralose may induce neurological and oxidative mechanisms with potentially important consequences for animal behaviour and physiology.     

CRISPR/Cas-Mediated Targeted Mutagenesis in Daphnia magna

The water flea Daphnia magna has been used as an animal model in ecology, evolution, and environmental sciences. Thanks to the recent progress in Daphnia genomics, genetic information such as the draft genome sequence and expressed sequence tags (ESTs) is now available. To investigate the relationship between phenotypes and the available genetic information about Daphnia, some gene manipulation methods have been developed. However, a technique to induce targeted mutagenesis into Daphnia genome remains elusive. To overcome this problem, we focused on an emerging genome editing technique mediated by the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated (CRISPR/Cas) system to introduce genomic mutations. In this study, we targeted a functionally conserved regulator of eye development, the eyeless gene in D. magna. When we injected Cas9 mRNAs and eyeless-targeting guide RNAs into eggs, 18–47% of the survived juveniles exhibited abnormal eye morphology. After maturation, up to 8.2% of the adults produced progenies with deformed eyes, which carried mutations in the eyeless loci. These results showed that CRISPR/Cas system could introduce heritable mutations into the endogenous eyeless gene in D. magna. This is the first report of a targeted gene knockout technique in Daphnia and will be useful in uncovering Daphnia gene functions.     

No Evidence for Activity Adjustment in Response to Increased Density in Daphnia magna

Increased population density may lead to a decrease in energy available for growth and reproduction via effects on the activity level of individuals. Whilst this may be of particular importance for organisms that compete for defendable resources and/or have a high frequency of social interactions, it is less obvious how individual activity should covary with population density when food resources are not defendable or direct interactions among individuals are negligible. Based on observations that there is a general negative relationship between population density and metabolism it has been suggested that organisms actively reduce activity under increased density to accommodate an expected decrease in food availability. However, in the absence of direct activity measurements the validity of this hypothesis is unclear. Here we test for such anticipatory adjustments of activity levels in the planktonic cladoceran Daphnia magna Straus, a filter feeder whose food resources are not defendable, meaning that density responses can be evaluated in the absence of direct interactions. We tested for changes in activity in response to two separate density cues, one being the direct physical and visual stimuli resulting from being in the vicinity of conspecifics (‘direct density experiment’), and the other being the detection of olfactory cues in their environment (‘olfactory cue experiment’). Ten genetically distinct clones were used to evaluate the potential for genetic variation in these responses. Our measures of activity were highly repeatable, and there was significant variation in activity among clones. Furthermore, this clonal variation was consistent in the ‘direct density’ and ‘olfactory cue’ experiments. The estimated evolvability of the trait (1.3–3.2%) was within the range typically observed in behavioural traits. However, there was no indication that the activity level of individuals respond to population density, either directly to actual density or to olfactory cues representing high density. In this case, the energetic influence of density on population dynamics is sufficiently described by effects on per capita resource availability.     

Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles Increase Sensitivity in the Next Generation of the Water Flea Daphnia magna

The nanoparticle industry is expected to become a trillion dollar business in the near future. Therefore, the unintentional introduction of nanoparticles into the environment is increasingly likely. However, currently applied risk-assessment practices require further adaptation to accommodate the intrinsic nature of engineered nanoparticles. Combining a chronic flow-through exposure system with subsequent acute toxicity tests for the standard test organism Daphnia magna, we found that juvenile offspring of adults that were previously exposed to titanium dioxide nanoparticles exhibit a significantly increased sensitivity to titanium dioxide nanoparticles compared with the offspring of unexposed adults, as displayed by lower 96 h-EC₅₀ values. This observation is particularly remarkable because adults exhibited no differences among treatments in terms of typically assessed endpoints, such as sensitivity, number of offspring, or energy reserves. Hence, the present study suggests that ecotoxicological research requires further development to include the assessment of the environmental risks of nanoparticles for the next and hence not directly exposed generation, which is currently not included in standard test protocols.     

Combined Small RNA and Degradome Sequencing Reveals Novel MiRNAs and Their Targets in the High-Yield Mutant Wheat Strain Yunong 3114

Wheat is one of the main food sources worldwide; large amount studies have been conducted to improve wheat production. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) with about 20–30 nucleotide are a class of regulatory small RNAs (sRNAs), which could regulate gene expression through sequence-specific base pairing with target mRNAs, playing important roles in plant growth. An ideal plant architecture (IPA) is crucial to enhance yield in bread wheat. In this study, the high-yield wheat strain Yunong 3114 was EMS-mutagenesis from the wild-type strain Yunong 201, exhibiting a preferable plant structure compared with the wild-type strain. We constructed small RNA and degradome libraries from Yunong 201 and Yunong 3114, and performed small RNA sequencing of these libraries in order identify miRNAs and their targets related to IPA in wheat. Totally, we identified 488 known and 837 novel miRNAs from Yunong 3114 and 391 known and 533 novel miRNAs from Yunong 201. The number of miRNAs in the mutant increased. A total of 37 known and 432 putative novel miRNAs were specifically expressed in the mutant strain; furthermore, 23 known and 159 putative novel miRNAs were specifically expressed in the wild-type strain. A total of 150 known and 100 novel miRNAs were differentially expressed between mutant and wild-type strains. Among these differentially expressed novel miRNAs, 4 and 8 predict novel miRNAs were evidenced by degradome sequencing and showed up-regulated and down-regulated expressions in the mutant strain Yunong 3114, respectively. Targeted gene annotation and previous results indicated that this set of miRNAs is related to plant structure. Our results further suggested that miRNAs may be necessary to obtain an optimal wheat structure.     

基于转录组测序探索创伤弧菌MO6-24/O小RNA

目的:基于转录组测序注释,探索创伤弧菌MO6-24/O小RNA(sRNA)。方法:在海洋培养基2216E中培养创伤弧菌MO6-24/O,收集从对数生长期到静止期不同时间点的细菌,提取细菌RNA,通过富集sRNA以及去除核糖体RNA进行建库和测序,然后将读段匹配到创伤弧菌MO6-24/O基因组并进行注释,最后进行验证。结果:发现59个顺式编码sRNA、102个反式编码sRNA,并进行了部分验证。结论:鉴定出创伤弧菌MO6-24/OsRNA。     

Intracellular Conversion of Environmental Nitrate and Nitrite to Nitric Oxide with Resulting Developmental Toxicity to the Crustacean Daphnia magna

Background

Nitrate and nitrite (jointly referred to herein as NO_x) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants to which aquatic organisms are at particularly high risk of exposure. We tested the hypothesis that NO_x undergo intracellular conversion to the potent signaling molecule nitric oxide resulting in the disruption of endocrine-regulated processes.

Methodology/Principal Findings

These experiments were performed with insect cells (Drosophila S2) and whole organisms Daphnia magna. We first evaluated the ability of cells to convert nitrate (NO₃ ⁻) and nitrite (NO₂ ⁻) to nitric oxide using amperometric real-time nitric oxide detection. Both NO₃ ⁻ and NO₂ ⁻ were converted to nitric oxide in a substrate concentration-dependent manner. Further, nitric oxide trapping and fluorescent visualization studies revealed that perinatal daphnids readily convert NO₂ ⁻ to nitric oxide. Next, daphnids were continuously exposed to concentrations of the nitric oxide-donor sodium nitroprusside (positive control) and to concentrations of NO₃ ⁻ and NO₂ ⁻. All three compounds interfered with normal embryo development and reduced daphnid fecundity. Developmental abnormalities were characteristic of those elicited by compounds that interfere with ecdysteroid signaling. However, no compelling evidence was generated to indicate that nitric oxide reduced ecdysteroid titers.

Conclusions/Significance

Results demonstrate that nitrite elicits developmental and reproductive toxicity at environmentally relevant concentrations due likely to its intracellular conversion to nitric oxide.     

利用小RNA深度测序技术鉴定半夏病毒病病原

RNA沉默是真核生物体内由病毒来源的干扰小RNA（virus derived small interfering RNA, vsiRNA）沉默复合物介导目标RNA特异降解的一种保守机制,通过对vsiRNA分析可进行植物病毒病原鉴定。本文利用小RNA深度测序技术对感病半夏叶片进行鉴定,结果发现,表现典型花叶症状的半夏叶片受到大豆花叶病毒（Soybean mosaic virus, SMV）、黄瓜花叶病毒（Cucumber mosaic virus, CMV）、芋花叶病毒（Dasheen mosaic virus, DsMV）、魔芋花叶病毒（Konjac mosaic virus, KoMV）、烟草花叶病毒（Tobacco mosaic virus, TMV）等多种病毒的复合侵染。为明确SMV山西半夏分离物（SMV-SXBX）的进化关系,进行SMV-SXBX全基因组克隆与分析,获得SMV-SXBX全长为9 735 nt,编码一个由3 105个氨基酸组成的多聚蛋白质。通过核苷酸与氨基酸序列比对发现,SMV-SXBX与半夏分离物P同源性最高,分别为91.1%和94.1%,且系统发育分析表明,SMV-SXBX与半夏SMV分离物P聚为一簇。同时,也对vsiRNA进行了系统分析,研究结果有望为半夏SMV的有效防治提供一定科学依据。     

利用小RNA深度测序技术检测灰飞虱病毒种类

灰飞虱是一种重要农业害虫,作为病毒介体,可以传播多种植物病毒引起水稻、小麦和玉米等粮食作物病毒病害。目前对于灰飞虱体内昆虫病毒种类尚缺乏系统认识,难以开展利用昆虫病毒防治灰飞虱相关研究工作。为挖掘灰飞虱体内昆虫病毒资源,本文通过小RNA深度测序技术对灰飞虱所携带的病毒种类进行分析鉴定。结果显示,测序数据比对得到13种病毒,涉及8个病毒科和2种未分类病毒。除占据优势的水稻条纹病毒外,其余均为专性寄生的昆虫病毒,包括5种正链RNA病毒、2种单链DNA病毒和5种双链DNA病毒。在这些病毒中,发现了一种与果蝇A病毒较相似的新病毒,克隆出其依赖RNA的RNA聚合酶(RdRP)基因1-1 932位核酸序列,经Blast比对和系统进化分析,在氨基酸序列中发现RdRP掌型亚结构域保守区呈现复制酶置换四体病毒科(Permutotetraviridae)病毒所具有的“C-A-B”排列样式,确定该病毒是一种新的类复制酶置换四体病毒,暂命名为Laodelphax striatellus permutotetra-like virus(LsPLV)。这是首次在半翅目昆虫中发现类复制酶置换四体病毒。本研究表明灰飞...     

冬小麦小RNA高通量测序及生物信息学分析

东农冬麦1号是我国首例可在黑龙江高寒地区种植的强抗寒冬小麦(Triticum aestivum)品种。鉴于分蘖节的耐寒程度直接影响植株的安全越冬, 且MicroRNAs是一类生物体内普遍存在的非编码内源小分子RNA, 在植物的生长发育和适应胁迫等过程中具有重要作用, 该文基于HiSeq深度测序原理, 对5°C和–10°C胁迫下的东农冬麦1号分蘖节进行测序, 并开展生物信息学分析。结果表明, 在5°C文库中有2 229 955条特有小分子RNA序列, 并检测到35条已知miRNA, 属于30个miRNA家族, 其表达丰度介于1–173 810之间; 在–10°C文库中有3 721 449条特有小分子RNA序列, 并发现29条已知miRNA, 属于24个miRNA家族, 其表达丰度为1–105 868。靶基因预测结果表明, 5°C文库的30个miRNA家族中共预测到53个靶基因。功能分析结果显示, 这些基因主要参与转录调节、新陈代谢、胁迫响应和信号转导等过程。已知小麦miRNA的类型和表达丰度在5°C和–10°C两个文库中均有较大差异。     

Identification of Novel Regulatory Small RNAs in Acinetobacter baumannii

Small RNA (sRNA) molecules are non-coding RNAs that have been implicated in regulation of various cellular processes in living systems, allowing them to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Till date, sRNAs have not been reported in Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii), which has emerged as a significant multiple drug resistant nosocomial pathogen. In the present study, a combination of bioinformatic and experimental approach was used for identification of novel sRNAs. A total of 31 putative sRNAs were predicted by a combination of two algorithms, sRNAPredict and QRNA. Initially 10 sRNAs were chosen on the basis of lower E- value and three sRNAs (designated as AbsR11, 25 and 28) showed positive signal on Northern blot. These sRNAs are novel in nature as they do not have homologous sequences in other bacterial species. Expression of the three sRNAs was examined in various phases of bacterial growth. Further, the effect of various stress conditions on sRNA gene expression was determined. A detailed investigation revealed differential expression profile of AbsR25 in presence of varying amounts of ethidium bromide (EtBr), suggesting that its expression is influenced by environmental or internal signals such as stress response. A decrease in expression of AbsR25 and concomitant increase in the expression of bioinformatically predicted targets in presence of high EtBr was reverberated by the decrease in target gene expression when AbsR25 was overexpressed. This hints at the negative regulation of target genes by AbsR25. Interestingly, the putative targets include transporter genes and the degree of variation in expression of one of them (A1S_1331) suggests that AbsR25 is involved in regulation of a transporter. This study provides a perspective for future studies of sRNAs and their possible involvement in regulation of antibiotic resistance in bacteria specifically in cryptic A. baumannii.     

Genome-Wide Double-Stranded RNA Sequencing Reveals the Functional Significance of Base-Paired RNAs in Arabidopsis

The functional structure of all biologically active molecules is dependent on intra- and inter-molecular interactions. This is especially evident for RNA molecules whose functionality, maturation, and regulation require formation of correct secondary structure through encoded base-pairing interactions. Unfortunately, intra- and inter-molecular base-pairing information is lacking for most RNAs. Here, we marry classical nuclease-based structure mapping techniques with high-throughput sequencing technology to interrogate all base-paired RNA in Arabidopsis thaliana and identify ∼200 new small (sm)RNA–producing substrates of RNA–DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE6. Our comprehensive analysis of paired RNAs reveals conserved functionality within introns and both 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions (UTRs) of mRNAs, as well as a novel population of functional RNAs, many of which are the precursors of smRNAs. Finally, we identify intra-molecular base-pairing interactions to produce a genome-wide collection of RNA secondary structure models. Although our methodology reveals the pairing status of RNA molecules in the absence of cellular proteins, previous studies have demonstrated that structural information obtained for RNAs in solution accurately reflects their structure in ribonucleoprotein complexes. Furthermore, our identification of RNA–DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE6 substrates and conserved functional RNA domains within introns and both 5′ and 3′ untranslated regions (UTRs) of mRNAs using this approach strongly suggests that RNA molecules are correctly folded into their secondary structure in solution. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of base-paired RNAs in eukaryotes and present an approach that should be widely applicable for the analysis of this key structural feature of RNA.     

测序深度对RNA编辑识别算法的影响

RNA编辑是重要的转录后修饰过程,目前已有多种算法用于识别RNA编辑,本文主要研究小鼠中测序深度对RNA编辑识别算法的影响,从而为RNA编辑的研究给出建议的方法. 本文使用STAR比对软件将小鼠的RNA-seq数据进行序列比对,然后使用GATK识别SNV,并用Separate Method、GIREMI、RNAEditor 3种方法识别出RNA编辑位点. 最后对3种方法识别RNA编辑位点的共同部分、识别效率、识别稳定性、识别与测序深度的关系进行分析. 结果发现3种方法识别的编辑位点数目差异大,共有位点较少,随着测序深度的增加,识别的RNA编辑位点数也在增加. 结果表明RNA编辑识别算法在小鼠中的识别性能与测序深度呈正相关.     

parp10基因RNA干扰有效靶点的筛选及验证

目的：合成并筛选有效抑制parp10表达的siRNA。方法：根据parp10 cDNA序列,设计并合成prap10基因潜在的RNA干扰（RNAi）片段,将合成的寡核苷酸序列构建到pEGFP-C1H1U6载体中;通过双萤光素酶试验、Western blotting筛选有效的干扰序列;进一步用G418对A549细胞进行耐受度筛选,确定最低耐受度;用G418溶液对转染RNAi重组质粒的A549细胞进行筛选,通过RT-PCR鉴定干扰效果。结果：针对617bp处所构建的RNAi载体能够抑制PARP10的表达,用浓度为400μg/mL G418的McCoy′s 5A培养基筛选转染后的细胞,获得了能够表达绿色荧光标签蛋白的A549细胞株,经RT-PCR检测发现,PARP10表达受到抑制。结论：获得了能够有效抑制PARP10表达的特异性小干扰RNA（siRNA）,为进一步研究其生物学功能提供了条件。     

Small RNA Sequence Analysis of Adenovirus VA RNA-Derived MiRNAs Reveals an Unexpected Serotype-Specific Difference in Structure and Abundance

Human adenoviruses (HAds) encode for one or two highly abundant virus-associated RNAs, designated VA RNAI and VA RNAII, which fold into stable hairpin structures resembling miRNA precursors. Here we show that the terminal stem of the VA RNAs originating from Ad4, Ad5, Ad11 and Ad37, all undergo Dicer dependent processing into virus-specific miRNAs (so-called mivaRNAs). We further show that the mivaRNA duplex is subjected to a highly asymmetric RISC loading with the 3′-strand from all VA RNAs being the favored strand, except for the Ad37 VA RNAII, where the 5′-mivaRNAII strand was preferentially assembled into RISC. Although the mivaRNA seed sequences are not fully conserved between the HAds a bioinformatics prediction approach suggests that a large fraction of the VA RNAII-, but not the VA RNAI-derived mivaRNAs still are able to target the same cellular genes. Using small RNA deep sequencing we demonstrate that the Dicer processing event in the terminal stem of the VA RNAs is not unique and generates 3′-mivaRNAs with a slight variation of the position of the 5′ terminal nucleotide in the RISC loaded guide strand. Also, we show that all analyzed VA RNAs, except Ad37 VA RNAI and Ad5 VA RNAII, utilize an alternative upstream A start site in addition to the classical +1 G start site. Further, the 5′-mivaRNAs with an A start appears to be preferentially incorporated into RISC. Although the majority of mivaRNA research has been done using Ad5 as the model system our analysis demonstrates that the mivaRNAs expressed in Ad11- and Ad37-infected cells are the most abundant mivaRNAs associated with Ago2-containing RISC. Collectively, our results show an unexpected variability in Dicer processing of the VA RNAs and a serotype-specific loading of mivaRNAs into Ago2-based RISC.