RESUMO
Neuropeptides are crucial in regulation of a rich variety of developmental, physiological, and behavioral functions throughout the life cycle of insects. Using an integrated approach of multiomics, we identified neuropeptide precursors in the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella, which is a harmful pest of honeybee hives with a worldwide distribution. Here, a total of 63 and 67 neuropeptide precursors were predicted and annotated in the G. mellonella genome and transcriptome, in which 40 neuropeptide precursors were confirmed in the G. mellonella peptidome. Interestingly, we identified 12 neuropeptide precursor genes present in G. mellonella but absent in honeybees, which may be potential novel pesticide target sites. Honeybee hives were contaminated with heavy metals such as lead, enabling its bioaccumulation in G. mellonella bodies through the food chain, we performed transcriptome sequencing to analyze the effects of Pb stress on the mRNA expression level of G. mellonella neuropeptide precursors. After treatment by Pb, the expression of neuropeptide F1 was found to be significantly downregulated, implying that this neuropeptide might be associated with responding to the heavy metal stress in G. mellonella. This study comprehensively identified neuropeptide precursors in G. mellonella, and discussed the effects of heavy metals on insect neuropeptides, with the example of G. mellonella. The results are valuable for future elucidation of how neuropeptides regulate physiological functions in G. mellonella and contribute to our understanding of the insect's environmental plasticity and identify potential new biomarkers to assess heavy metal toxicity in insects.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To study the protective effect of Imperatae Rhizoma extract on renal tissues in rats with Adriamycin nephrosis, and to explore the possible mechanism. METHODS: The nephrosis model was induced by adriamycin 6.5 mg/kg intravenously in rats. The rats were randomly divided into seven groups, including normal group, model group, predisone group, petroleum ether groups, ethyl acetate group ,alcohol group, and water parts group, and treated for eight weeks. The protein content of 24 hours urine excretion was tested respectively by automatic biochemistry analyzer each week. After eight weeks, BUN, CRE, TCHO, TG, TP and ALB in serum were examined by automatic biochemistry analyzer. The TNF-α in serum was measured by ELISA. The expression of TGF-ß1, and NF-κB p65 in renal tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry respectively. The pathological changes in the renal were observed by light microscope. RESULTS: Compared with the model group ,the proteinuria of the rats in ethyl acetate group obviously reduced at the 6th, 7th, 8th week, the content of TNF-α in serum and the expression of TGF-ß1, and NF-κB p65 in renal tissues significantly reduced, but the content of TP and ALB in serum were increased obviously. In the alcohol and water parts groups ,the level of TG in serum and the protein content of 24 hours urine excretion of the 6th and 7th week were significantly decreased. The ethyl acetate, alcohol and water parts groups ameliorated the changes of pathology in renal. CONCLUSION: The different extracts of Imperatae Rhizoma had different protective effect in rats with adriamycin nephrosis, and the effect of ethyl acetate group was more stronger than that of other groups. The mechanism may be related to reducing the expression of NF-κB p65 and TGF-ß1, and the content of TNF-α inrenal tissues of rats.
