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Zhang R, Liu W, Fu J, Zhang Z. MicroRNA-989 controls Aedes albopictus pupal-adult transition process by influencing cuticle chitin metabolism in pupae. Parasit Vectors 2023; 16:397. [PMID: 37919799 PMCID: PMC10623821 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-023-05976-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2023] [Accepted: 09/21/2023] [Indexed: 11/04/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Aedes albopictus is a vector of numerous devastating arboviruses and places heavy burdens on global public health. Chitin is one of the important components of cuticles and targeting chitin metabolism is a promising strategy for preventing mosquito dispersal and mosquito-borne diseases. Increasing evidence suggests that microRNAs (miRNAs) play crucial roles in various physiological processes of insects. METHODS A previous analysis suggested that the microRNA miR-989 is potentially involved in chitin metabolism in Ae. albopictus pupae. In the present study, we found that the expression level of miR-989 was significantly overexpressed after injection of agomir. A dual-luciferase assay was used to determine the direct target of miR-989. Survival rate, eclosion rate and malformation rate were statistically analyzed to evaluate the potential effect of miR-989. Hematoxylin-eosin staining and chitin staining were used to evaluate the microstructural changes in the cuticles of Ae. albopictus pupae. RESULTS Overexpression of miR-989 resulted in a significantly reduced survival rate and eclosion rate of pupae and an elevated malformation rate of adults. The results suggested that miR-989 acted as a regulator of chitin metabolism in Ae. albopictus pupae by affecting the transcript levels of the Ae. albopictus genes encoding chitin synthase 1 (AaCHS1) and chitinase 10 (AaCht10). The altered expression levels of the two chitin metabolism-related enzymes (CHS1 and Cht10, respectively) caused the structural changes in cuticles and further affected the pupal-adult transition process of Ae. albopictus. XM_029863591.1 was proven to be the target gene of miR-989 and displayed similar effects on pupae as miR-989. CONCLUSIONS The microRNA miR-989 was found to be essential for chitin metabolism in old and new cuticles of Ae. albopictus pupae. The results of the current study suggested that miR-989 could be used as a potential target to control Ae. albopictus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruiling Zhang
- Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, 250000, China.
- School of Clinical and Basic Medical Science, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences), Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, 250117, China.
- School of Laboratory Animal (Shandong Laboratory Animal Center), Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences), Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, 250117, China.
| | - Wenjuan Liu
- Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, 250000, China
- School of Clinical and Basic Medical Science, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences), Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, 250117, China
| | - Jingwen Fu
- Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, 250000, China
- School of Clinical and Basic Medical Science, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences), Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, 250117, China
| | - Zhong Zhang
- School of Clinical and Basic Medical Science, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences), Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, 250117, China.
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Schuster M, Guiu-Aragones C, Steinberg G. Class V chitin synthase and β(1,3)-glucan synthase co-travel in the same vesicle in Zymoseptoria tritici. Fungal Genet Biol 2019; 135:103286. [PMID: 31672687 PMCID: PMC7967022 DOI: 10.1016/j.fgb.2019.103286] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2019] [Revised: 10/15/2019] [Accepted: 10/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Native chitin (Chs5) and glucan synthase (Gsc1) visualised in the pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici. Chs5 and Gsc1 are transported along microtubules. Chs5 and Gsc1 do localise to the apical plasma membrane, but not the Spitzenkörper. Light and electron microscopy how co-travel of Chs5 and Gsc1 in the same secretory vesicle. Enzyme delivery in Z. tritici is different from Neurospora crassa, but similar to Ustilago maydis.
The fungal cell wall consists of proteins and polysaccharides, formed by the co-ordinated activity of enzymes, such as chitin or glucan synthases. These enzymes are delivered via secretory vesicles to the hyphal tip. In the ascomycete Neurospora crassa, chitin synthases and β(1,3)-glucan synthase are transported in different vesicles, whereas they co-travel along microtubules in the basidiomycete Ustilago maydis. This suggests fundamental differences in wall synthesis between taxa. Here, we visualize the class V chitin synthase ZtChs5 and the β(1,3)-glucan synthase ZtGcs1 in the ascomycete Zymoseptoria tritici. Live cell imaging demonstrate that both enzymes co-locate to the apical plasma membrane, but are not concentrated in the Spitzenkörper. Delivery involves co-transport along microtubules of the chitin and glucan synthase. Live cell imaging and electron microscopy suggest that both cell wall synthases locate in the same vesicle. Thus, microtubule-dependent co-delivery of cell wall synthases in the same vesicle is found in asco- and basidiomycetes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Schuster
- School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QD, UK
| | | | - Gero Steinberg
- School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QD, UK.
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION Microsporidia have been increasingly reported to infect humans. The most common presentation of microsporidiosis is chronic diarrhea, a significant mortality risk in immune-compromised patients. Albendazole, which inhibits tubulin, and fumagillin, which inhibits methionine aminopeptidase type 2 (MetAP2), are the two main therapeutic agents used for treatment of microsporidiosis. In addition, to their role as emerging pathogens in humans, microsporidia are important pathogens in insects, aquaculture, and veterinary medicine. New therapeutic targets and therapies have become a recent focus of attention for medicine, veterinary, and agricultural use. Areas covered: Herein, we discuss the detection and symptoms of microsporidiosis in humans and the therapeutic targets that have been utilized for the design of new drugs for the treatment of this infection, including triosephosphate isomerase, tubulin, MetAP2, topoisomerase IV, chitin synthases, and polyamines. Expert opinion: Enterocytozoon bieneusi is the most common microsporidia in human infection. Fumagillin has a broader anti-microsporidian activity than albendazole and is active against both Ent. bieneusi and Encephaliozoonidae. Microsporidia lack methionine aminopeptidase type 1 and are, therefore, dependent on MetAP2, while mammalian cells have both enzymes. Thus, MetAP2 is an essential enzyme in microsporidia and new inhibitors of this pathway have significant promise as therapeutic agents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bing Han
- Department of Pathology, Division of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461
| | - Louis M. Weiss
- Department of Pathology, Division of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461
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Góes-Neto A, Diniz MVC, Carvalho DS, Bomfim GC, Duarte AA, Brzozowski JA, Petit Lobão TC, Pinho STR, El-Hani CN, Andrade RFS. Comparison of complex networks and tree-based methods of phylogenetic analysis and proposal of a bootstrap method. PeerJ 2018; 6:e4349. [PMID: 29441237 PMCID: PMC5808311 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.4349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2017] [Accepted: 01/19/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Complex networks have been successfully applied to the characterization and modeling of complex systems in several distinct areas of Biological Sciences. Nevertheless, their utilization in phylogenetic analysis still needs to be widely tested, using different molecular data sets and taxonomic groups, and, also, by comparing complex networks approach to current methods in phylogenetic analysis. In this work, we compare all the four main methods of phylogenetic analysis (distance, maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian) with a complex networks method that has been used to provide a phylogenetic classification based on a large number of protein sequences as those related to the chitin metabolic pathway and ATP-synthase subunits. In order to perform a close comparison to these methods, we selected Basidiomycota fungi as the taxonomic group and used a high-quality, manually curated and characterized database of chitin synthase sequences. This enzymatic protein plays a key role in the synthesis of one of the exclusive features of the fungal cell wall: the presence of chitin. The communities (modules) detected by the complex network method corresponded exactly to the groups retrieved by the phylogenetic inference methods. Additionally, we propose a bootstrap method for the complex network approach. The statistical results we have obtained with this method were also close to those obtained using traditional bootstrap methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aristóteles Góes-Neto
- Department of Microbiology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Marcelo V C Diniz
- Department of Microbiology, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Daniel S Carvalho
- Institute of Biology, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
| | - Gilberto C Bomfim
- Institute of Biology, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
| | - Angelo A Duarte
- Department of Technology, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil
| | - Jerzy A Brzozowski
- Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Human Sciences, Federal University of Fronteira Sul, Erechim, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | | | - Suani T R Pinho
- Institute of Physics, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
| | - Charbel N El-Hani
- Institute of Biology, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.,National Institute of Science & Technology in Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Studies in Ecology and Evolution (IN-TREE), Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
| | - Roberto F S Andrade
- Institute of Physics, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
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Tetreau G, Cao X, Chen YR, Muthukrishnan S, Jiang H, Blissard GW, Kanost MR, Wang P. Overview of chitin metabolism enzymes in Manduca sexta: Identification, domain organization, phylogenetic analysis and gene expression. Insect Biochem Mol Biol 2015; 62:114-26. [PMID: 25616108 DOI: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2015.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2014] [Revised: 01/06/2015] [Accepted: 01/11/2015] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Chitin is one of the most abundant biomaterials in nature. The biosynthesis and degradation of chitin in insects are complex and dynamically regulated to cope with insect growth and development. Chitin metabolism in insects is known to involve numerous enzymes, including chitin synthases (synthesis of chitin), chitin deacetylases (modification of chitin by deacetylation) and chitinases (degradation of chitin by hydrolysis). In this study, we conducted a genome-wide search and analysis of genes encoding these chitin metabolism enzymes in Manduca sexta. Our analysis confirmed that only two chitin synthases are present in M. sexta as in most other arthropods. Eleven chitin deacetylases (encoded by nine genes) were identified, with at least one representative in each of the five phylogenetic groups that have been described for chitin deacetylases to date. Eleven genes encoding for family 18 chitinases (GH18) were found in the M. sexta genome. Based on the presence of conserved sequence motifs in the catalytic sequences and phylogenetic relationships, two of the M. sexta chitinases did not cluster with any of the current eight phylogenetic groups of chitinases: two new groups were created (groups IX and X) and their characteristics are described. The result of the analysis of the Lepidoptera-specific chitinase-h (group h) is consistent with its proposed bacterial origin. By analyzing chitinases from fourteen species that belong to seven different phylogenetic groups, we reveal that the chitinase genes appear to have evolved sequentially in the arthropod lineage to achieve the current high level of diversity observed in M. sexta. Based on the sequence conservation of the catalytic domains and on their developmental stage- and tissue-specific expression, we propose putative functions for each group in each category of enzymes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume Tetreau
- Department of Entomology, Cornell University, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, NY 14456, USA
| | - Xiaolong Cao
- Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA
| | - Yun-Ru Chen
- Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-1801, USA
| | - Subbaratnam Muthukrishnan
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Kansas State University, 141 Chalmers Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA
| | - Haobo Jiang
- Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA
| | - Gary W Blissard
- Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-1801, USA
| | - Michael R Kanost
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, Kansas State University, 141 Chalmers Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA
| | - Ping Wang
- Department of Entomology, Cornell University, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, NY 14456, USA.
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