A global invasion by the thrip,Frankliniella occidentalis: Current virus vector status and its management

Western flower thrip, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), is among the most economically important agricultural pests globally, attacking a wide range of vegetable and horticultural crops. In addition to causing extensive crop damage, the species is notorious for vectoring destructive plant viruses, mainly belonging to the genera Orthotospovirus, Ilarvirus, Alphacarmovirus and Machlomovirus. Once infected by orthotospoviruses, thrips can remain virulent throughout their lifespan and continue transmitting viruses to host plants when and wherever they feed. These irruptive viral outbreaks in crops will permanently disrupt functional integrated pest management systems, and typically require a remedial treatment involving insecticides, contributing to further development of insecticide resistance. To mitigate against this continuing cycle, the most effective management is early and comprehensive surveillance of the pest species and recognition of plant viruses in the field. This review provides information on the pest status of F. occidentalis, discusses the current global status of the viruses vectored by this thrip species, examines the mechanisms involved in transmitting virus‐induced diseases by thrips, and reviews different management strategies, highlighting the potential management tactics developed for various cropping systems. The early surveillance and the utilization of potential methods for control of both F. occidentalis and viruses are proposed.     

HEB, a helix-loop-helix protein related to E2A and ITF2 that can modulate the DNA-binding ability of myogenic regulatory factors.

Proteins containing the basic-helix-loop-helix (B-HLH) domain have been shown to be important in regulating cellular differentiation. We have isolated a cDNA for a human B-HLH factor, denoted HEB, that shares nearly complete identity in the B-HLH domain with the immunoglobulin enhancer binding proteins encoded by the E2A and ITF2 genes (E proteins). Functional characterization of the protein expressed from this cDNA indicates that HEB is a third member of the E-protein class of B-HLH factors. HEB mRNA was found to be expressed in several tissues and cell types, including skeletal muscle, thymus, and a B-cell line. HEB, ITF2, and the E12 product of the E2A gene all bound to a similar spectrum of E-box sequences as homo-oligomers. All three factors also formed hetero-oligomers with myogenin, and the DNA-binding specificity and binding off-rates (dissociation rates) were modulated after hetero-oligomerization. Both homo- and hetero-oligomers of these proteins were able to distinguish between very closely related E-box sequences. In addition, HEB was shown to form hetero-oligomers with the E12 and ITF2 proteins. Finally, HEB was able to activate gene expression. These data demonstrate that HEB shares characteristics with other E proteins and show that HEB can interact with members of both the myogenic regulatory class and the E-protein class of B-HLH factors. HEB is therefore likely to play an important role in regulating lineage-specific gene expression.     

Histidine ammonia-lyase from Streptomyces griseus.

Histidine ammonia-lyase (histidase; HutH) has been purified to homogeneity from Streptomyces griseus and the N-terminal amino acid (aa) sequence used to clone the histidase-encoding structural gene, hutH. The purified enzyme shows typical saturation kinetics and is inhibited competitively by D-histidine and histidinol phosphate. High concentrations of K.cyanide inactivate HutH unless the enzyme is protected by the substrate or histidinol phosphate. On the basis of the nucleotide sequence, the hutH structural gene would encode a protein of 53 kDa with an N terminus identical to that determined for the purified enzyme. Immediately upstream from hutH is a region that strongly resembles a class of Streptomyces promoters active during vegetative growth; however, there is no obvious ribosome-binding site adjacent to the hutH translation start codon. The deduced aa sequence of an upstream partial open reading frame shows no similarity with other proteins, including HutP of Bacillus subtilis and HutU of Pseudomonas putida. Promoter-probe analysis indicates that promoter activity maps within the DNA surrounding the hutH start codon. Pairwise comparisons of the primary structures of bacterial and mammalian histidases, together with the unique kinetic properties and gene organization, suggest that streptomycete histidase may represent a distinct family of histidases.     

Indication of dynamic neurovascular coupling from inconsistency between EEG and fMRI indices across sleep–wake states

Sleep and Biological Rhythms - Neurovascular coupling (NVC), the transient regional hyperemia following the evoked neuronal responses, is the basis of blood oxygenation level-dependent techniques...     

Comprehensive profiling of accessible surface glycans of mammalian sperm using a lectin microarray

It is well known that cell surface glycans or glycocalyx play important roles in sperm motility, maturation and fertilization. A comprehensive profile of the sperm surface glycans will greatly facilitate both basic research (sperm glycobiology) and clinical studies, such as diagnostics of infertility. As a group of natural glycan binders, lectin is an ideal tool for cell surface glycan profiling. However, because of the lack of effective technology, only a few lectins have been tested for lectin-sperm binding profiles. To address this challenge, we have developed a procedure for high-throughput probing of mammalian sperm with 91 lectins on lectin microarrays. Normal sperm from human, boar, bull, goat and rabbit were collected and analyzed on the lectin microarrays. Positive bindings of a set of ~50 lectins were observed for all the sperm of 5 species, which indicated a wide range of glycans are on the surface of mammalian sperm. Species specific lectin bindings were also observed. Clustering analysis revealed that the distances of the five species according to the lectin binding profiles are consistent with that of the genome sequence based phylogenetic tree except for rabbit. The procedure that we established in this study could be generally applicable for sperm from other species or defect sperm from the same species. We believe the lectin binding profiles of the mammalian sperm that we established in this study are valuable for both basic research and clinical studies.     

Focal adhesion kinase maintains,but not increases the adhesion of dental pulp cells

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) functions as a key enzyme in the integrin-mediated adhesion-signalling pathway. Here, we aimed to investigate the effects of FAK on adhesion of human dental pulp (HDP) cells. We transfected lentiviral vectors to silence or overexpress FAK in HDP cells ex vivo. Early cell adhesion, cell survival and focal contacts (FCs)-related proteins (FAK and paxillin) were examined. By using immunofluorescence, the formation of FCs and cytoskeleton was detected, respectively. We found that both adhesion and survival of HDP cells were suppressed by FAK inhibition. However, FAK overexpression slightly inhibited cell adhesion and exhibited no change in cell survival compared with the control. A thick rim of cytoskeleton accumulated and smaller dot-shaped FCs appeared in FAK knockdown cells. Phosphorylation of paxillin (p-paxillin) was inhibited in FAK knockdown cells, verifying that the adhesion was inhibited. Less cytoskeleton and elongated FCs were observed in FAK-overexpressed cells. However, p-paxillin had no significant difference compared with the control. In conclusion, the data suggest that FAK maintains cell adhesion, survival and cytoskeleton formation, but excessive FAK has no positive effects on these aspects.