Silent information regulators (Sirtuins) belong to the family of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)-dependent histone deacetylases (HDACs) that have diverse functions in cells. Mammalian Sirtuins have seven isoforms (Sirt1–7) which have been found to play a role in viral replication. However, Sirtuin members of insects are very different from mammals, and the function of insect Sirtuins in regulating virus replication is unclear. The silkworm, Bombyx mori, as a model species of Lepidoptera, is also an important economical insect. B. mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) is a major pathogen that specifically infects silkworms and causes serious losses in the sericulture industry. Here, we used the infection of the silkworm by BmNPV as a model to explore the effect of Sirtuins on virus replication. We initially knocked down all silkworm Sirtuins, and then infected with BmNPV to analyze its replication. Sirt2 and Sirt5 were found to have potential antiviral functions in the silkworm. We further confirmed the antiviral function of silkworm Sirt5 through its effects on viral titers during both knockdown and overexpression experiments. Additionally, Suramin, a Sirt5 inhibitor, was found to promote BmNPV replication. In terms of molecular mechanism, it was found that silkworm Sirt5 might promote the immune pathway mediated by Relish, thereby enhancing the host antiviral response. This study is the first to explore the role of Sirtuins in insect-virus interactions, providing new insights into the functional role of members of the insect Sirtuin family.
Silver nanoparticles have mainly been studied for their antimicrobial potential against bacteria, but have also proven to be active against several types of viruses, even against pebrine as well. Methods: Petri dishes and transmission electronic microscope were applied to observe silver nanoparticles against bacteria strains and nuclear polyhedral viruses (NPV) and cytoplasmic polyhedral viruses (CPV). For biological test, 108 CFU/mL NPV with strong pathogenicity, and the NPV samples treated with 1:100 ratio of “Sumerian Silver” for 8 hrs were sprayed on the mulberry leaves, respectively, for silkworm rearing. Conclusion: Silver nanoparticle solution showed a strong bactericidal effect against both G+ and G﹣bacterial pathogenic strains from Bombyx mori and mulberry. Under transmission electronic microscope (TEM), Bacillus sp. Samples showed light particles in the cells when treated with silver nanoparticles, in contrast, untreated samples showed homogeneity contents. Further, NPV particles showed no significant differences between treated and untreated samples, but CPV showed strong effects that almost all CPV were collapsed. For biological test, “Sumerian Silver” treated NPV showed no diseased silkworm but nearly all silkworms were dead with no treatment. It seems like that silver nanoparticles were proved to be more effective against CPV than that of NPV. The significant differences between two antivirus or virucidal mechanism should be greatly aroused the scientific interest.
has been identified as an interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) in mammals that exerts its antiviral effects by catalyzing the conversion of cholesterol to 25-hydroxycholesterol (25HC). However, invertebrates lack an antiviral system homologous to vertebrate interferons (IFNs) because the genomes of invertebrates do not encode IFN-like cytokines. Nevertheless, CH25H is present in insect genomes and it therefore deserves further study of whether and by which mechanism it could exert an antiviral effect in invertebrates. In this study, the Bombyx mori CH25H (BmCH25H) gene, of which the encoded protein has high homology with other lepidopteran species, was identified and located on chromosome 9. Interestingly, we found that the expression of BmCH25H was significantly upregulated in B. mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) -infected BmN cells and silkworm (B. mori) larvae at the early infection stage. The inhibitory effect of BmCH25H on BmNPV replication was further demonstrated to depend on its catalytic residues to convert cholesterol to 25HC. More importantly, we demonstrated that during BmNPV infection, BmCH25H expression was increased through the Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK-STAT) pathway, similar to the induction of ISGs following virus infection in vertebrates. This is the first report that CH25H has antiviral effects in insects; the study also elucidates the regulation of its expression and its mechanism of action.
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