Haplodiploidy is a sex determination system in which fertilized diploid eggs develop into females and unfertilized haploid eggs develop into males. The evolutionary explanations for this phenomenon include the possibility that haplodiploidy can be reinforced by infection with endosymbiotic bacteria, such as Wolbachia. The subfamily Scolytinae contains species with haplodiploid and diploid sex determination systems. Thus, we studied the association with Wolbachia in 12 diploid and 11 haplodiploid scolytine beetles by analyzing wsp and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of five loci in this endosymbiont. Wolbachia genotypes were compared with mitochondrial (COI) and nuclear (EF) genotypes in the scolytines. Eight of the 23 scolytine species were infected with Wolbachia, with haplodiploids at significantly higher rates than diploid species. Cloning and sequencing detected multiple infections with up to six Wolbachia strains in individual species. Phylogenetic analyses of wsp and five MLST genes revealed different Wolbachia strains in scolytines. Comparisons between the beetle and Wolbachia phylogenies revealed that closely related beetles were infected with genetically different Wolbachia strains. These results suggest the horizontal transmission of multiple Wolbachia strains between scolytines. We discuss these results in terms of the evolution of different sex determination systems in scolytine beetles.
Wolbachia bacteria are among the most common endosymbionts in insects. In Wolbachia research, the Wolbachia surface protein (wsp) gene has been used as a phylogenetic tool, but relationships inferred by single-locus analysis can be unreliable because of the extensive genome recombination among Wolbachia strains. Therefore, a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) method for Wolbachia, which relies upon a set of five conserved genes, is recommended. In this study, we examined whether the alnus ambrosia beetle, Xylosandrus germanus (Blandford), is infected with Wolbachia using wsp and MLST genes. Wolbachia was detected from all tested specimens of X. germanus (n=120) by wsp amplification. Five distinct sequences (i.e. five alleles) for wsp were found, and labeled as wXge1-5. MLST analysis and molecular phylogeny of concatenated sequences of MLST genes identified wXge3 and wXge5 as closely-related strains. The detection rate of wXge4 and wXge1 was 100% and 63.3%, respectively; wXge2, wXge3 and wXge5 were detected from less than 15% of specimens. We performed mitochondrial haplotype analyses that identified three genetic types of X. germanus, i.e. Clades A, B and C. Wsp alleles wXge1, wXge2 and wXge4 were detected in all clade A beetles; wXge2 allele was absent from Clades B and C. We concluded that (i) five wsp alleles were found from X. germanus, (ii) use of MLST genes, rather than the wsp gene, are more suited to construct Wolbachia phylogenies and (iii) wsp alleles wXge2 and wXge3/wXge5 would infect clade A and clade B/C of X. germanus, respectively.
Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) is a water-soluble quinone compound, and has a strong anti-oxidant capacity (1,2). Trace amounts of PQQ are present in everyday foods and beverages (3) and in the organs and tissues of humans and rats (4). The nutritional importance of PQQ was suggested after a study on rats showed poor growth, osteolathyrism, and friable skin due to a lack of PQQ (5). In addition, several studies in humans have suggested that PQQ plays a role in cognitive improvement (6, 7) and has anti-stress effects (8). A recent study reported that dietary PQQ alters indicators of inflammation and mitochondrial-related metabolism in human subjects (9).Owing to its strong anti-oxidative properties, PQQ is likely to protect mitochondria against damage from reactive oxygen species. Aerobic respiration in the mitochondria leads to the production of reactive oxygen species, which in turn, leads to the induction of lipid peroxidation and the inactivation of lipid metabolism (10, 11) through a deterioration of the mitochondrial energy production cycle. Therefore, the protection of mitochondria from oxidative stress may maintain normal metabolism in mitochondria. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) that accelerates catabolism, i.e. the production of ATP, through the generation of mitochondria, activation of the glycolytic pathway, or glucose capture, is activated following PQQ ingestion in animal studies (12,13). A previous study in rats fed a PQQ-depleted diet reported that PQQ treatment led to an increase in the number of mitochondria in cells and a normalization of elevated triglyceride (TG) levels in circulating blood (13). It is well known that to maintain serum lipid levels at normal range is important, as excessive lipid levels are regarded as a risk factor for various lifestyle-related diseases. Although similar effects are to be expected in humans, to date, to the best of our knowledge, there is only one study on the relationship between PQQ and lipid metabolism in healthy young humans with the normal range of blood lipid levels (9). In the paper, the blood lipid levels remained within the normal range after taking PQQ. The primary purpose of our study was to examine the effects of continuous PQQ treatment for 12 wk on human lipid levels in a randomized, doubleblinded, placebo-controlled trial. The volunteers in this study were healthy Japanese adults with normal to moderately high TG levels including those who had normal to high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-chol) levels. Summary Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) is a water-soluble quinone compound that has a strong anti-oxidant capacity. A previous study in rats fed a PQQ-depleted diet showed that elevated levels of serum triglyceride (TG) decreased after PQQ supplementation. However, there is only one study reporting the effects of PQQ on serum lipid levels, such as those of TG and cholesterol, in humans. In this study, the effects of PQQ disodium salt (BioPQQ TM ) on serum TG and cholesterol levels in humans after 6 and 12 wk of treatment at an ora...
Cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI)-inducing endosymbiotic bacteria, such as Wolbachia and Cardinium, have been well studied through field data and validations on the basis of numerical simulations. However, the analytically derived equilibrium frequency of multiple infections has not yet been determined, although the equilibrium for cases of single infection has been reported. In this study, we considered the difference equation for endosymbionts using three parameters: the probability of the failure of vertical transmission (), CI strength (), and the level of host inbreeding (). To analyze this model, we particularly focused on , i.e., the frequency of host individuals completely infected with all -bacterial strains in the population. , at the equilibrium state, was analytically calculated in the cases where and is any arbitrary value. We found that can be described using two parameters: and , which is identical to . has a larger value in a system with a smaller . In addition, determines the maximum number of strains that infect a single host. Our results revealed the following: i) three parameters can be reduced to a single parameter, i.e., and ii) the threshold of the maximum number of infections is defined by , which prevents additional invasions by endosymbionts.
Summary: OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of fermented black garlic on hepatic function in Japanese adults. TRIAL DESIGN: A placebo-controlled, double-blinded, randomized trial. METHODS: Forty subjects were randomly assigned to either a garlic group GG or the placebo group PG , and instructed to take the assigned supplements for weeks. Blood tests hepatic and renal functions, and sugar and lipid metabolism and physical measurements were conducted before intake baseline , and at weeks and . RESULTS: The change in the level of ALT, a marker of hepatic function, between the baseline and week was significantly smaller in the GG than in the PG p . , and the change in the level of AST also tended to be smaller in the former than in the latter p .. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that intake of fermented black garlic for weeks has a beneficial effect on hepatic function in healthy Japanese adults. This study has been registered in UMIN-CTR UMIN .
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