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Symbionts can regulate animal reproduction in multiple ways, but the underlying physiological and biochemical mechanisms remain largely unknown. The presence of multiple lineages of maternally inherited, intracellular symbionts (the primary and secondary symbionts) in terrestrial arthropods is widespread in nature. However, the biological, metabolic, and evolutionary role of co-resident secondary symbionts for hosts is poorly understood. The bacterial symbionts Hamiltonella and Arsenophonus have very high prevalence in two globally important pests, the whiteflies Bemisia tabaci and Trialeurodes vaporariorum , respectively. Both symbionts coexist with the primary symbiont Portiera in the same host cell (bacteriocyte) and are maternally transmitted. We found that elimination of both Hamiltonella and Arsenophonous by antibiotic treatment reduced the percentage of female offspring in whiteflies. Microsatellite genotyping and cytogenetic analysis revealed that symbiont deficiency inhibited fertilization in whiteflies, leading to more haploid males with one maternal allele, which is consistent with distorted sex ratio in whiteflies. Quantification of essential amino acids and B vitamins in whiteflies indicated that symbiont deficiency reduced B vitamin levels, and dietary B vitamin supplementation rescued fitness of whiteflies. This study, for the first time, conclusively demonstrates that these two intracellular symbionts affect sex ratios in their whitefly hosts by regulating fertilization and supplying B vitamins. Our results reveal that both symbionts have the convergent function of regulating reproduction in phylogenetically-distant whitefly species. The 100% frequency, the inability of whiteflies to develop normally without their symbiont, and rescue with B vitamins suggests that both symbionts may be better considered co-primary symbionts.

Insect symbionts are widespread in nature and lateral gene transfer is prevalent in insect symbiosis. However, the function of horizontally transferred genes (HTGs) in insect symbiosis remains speculative, including the mechanism that enables insects to feed on plant phloem deficient in B vitamins. Previously, we found there is redundancy in biotin synthesis pathways from both whitefly Bemisia tabaci and symbiotic Hamiltonella due to the presence of whitefly HTGs. Here, we demonstrate that elimination of Hamiltonella decreased biotin levels but elevated the expression of horizontally transferred biotin genes in whiteflies. HTGs proteins exhibit specific expression patterns in specialized insect cells called bacteriocytes housing symbionts. Complementation with whitefly HTGs rescued E. coli biotin gene knockout mutants. Furthermore, silencing whitefly HTGs in Hamiltonella -infected whiteflies reduced biotin levels and hindered adult survival and fecundity, which was partially rescued by biotin supplementation. Each of horizontally transferred biotin genes are conserved in various laboratory cultures and species of whiteflies with geographically diverse distributions, which shares an evolutionary origin. We provide the first experimental evidence that biotin synthesized through acquired HTGs is important in whiteflies and may be as well in other animals. Our findings suggest that B vitamin provisioning in animal-microbe symbiosis frequently evolved from bacterial symbionts to animal hosts through horizontal gene transfer events. This study will also shed light on how the animal genomes evolve through functional transfer of genes with bacterial origin in the wider contexts of microbial ecology.

Horizontal gene transfer is widespread in insects bearing intracellular symbionts. Horizontally transferred genes (HTGs) are presumably involved in amino acid synthesis in sternorrhynchan insects. However, their role in insect-symbiont interactions remains largely unknown. We found symbionts Portiera , Hamiltonella and Rickettsia possess most genes involved in lysine synthesis in the whitefly Bemisia tabaci MEAM1 although their genomes are reduced. Hamiltonella maintains a nearly complete lysine synthesis pathway. In contrast, Portiera and Rickettsia require the complementation of whitefly HTGs for lysine synthesis and have lysE , encoding a lysine exporter. Furthermore, each horizontally transferred lysine gene of ten B . tabaci cryptic species shares an evolutionary origin. We demonstrated that Hamiltonella did not alter the titers of Portiera and Rickettsia or lysine gene expression of Portiera , Rickettsia and whiteflies. Hamiltonella also did not impact on lysine levels or protein localization in bacteriocytes harboring Portiera and ovaries infected with Rickettsia . Complementation with whitefly lysine synthesis HTGs rescued E . coli lysine gene knockout mutants. Silencing whitefly lysA in whiteflies harboring Hamiltonella reduced lysine levels, adult fecundity and titers of Portiera and Rickettsia without influencing the expression of Hamiltonella lysA . Furthermore, silencing whitefly lysA in whiteflies lacking Hamiltonella reduced lysine levels, adult fecundity and titers of Portiera and Rickettsia in ovarioles. Therefore, we, for the first time, demonstrated an essential amino acid lysine synthesized through HTGs is important for whitefly reproduction and fitness of both obligate and facultative symbionts, and it illustrates the mutual dependence between whitefly and its two symbionts. Collectively, this study reveals that acquisition of horizontally transferred lysine genes contributes to coadaptation and coevolution between B . tabaci and its symbionts.

A new species of the bamboo-feeding leafhopper genus Bambusana Anufriev, 1969, B.longispina Luo & Chen, sp. nov. is described and illustrated from China (Yunnan Province). A checklist and key to known species of this genus are provided. Figures are also provided for B.bambusae , B.biflaka , B.fopingensis and B.multidentata .

Intracellular symbionts in insects often have reduced genomes. Host acquisition of genes from bacteria is an important adaptation that supports symbionts. However, the function of horizontally transferred genes in insect symbiosis remains largely unclear. The primary symbiont Portiera housed in bacteriocytes lacks pantothenate synthesis genes: panB and panC , which is presumably complemented by a fused gene panB-panC (hereafter panBC ) horizontally transferred from bacteria in Bemisia tabaci MEAM1. We found panBC in many laboratory cultures, and species of B. tabaci shares a common evolutionary origin. We demonstrated that complementation with whitefly panBC rescued E. coli pantothenate gene knockout mutants. Portiera elimination decreased the pantothenate level and PanBC abundance in bacteriocytes, and reduced whitefly survival and fecundity. Silencing PanBC decreased the Portiera titer, reduced the pantothenate level, and decreased whitefly survival and fecundity. Supplementation with pantothenate restored the symbiont titer, PanBC level, and fitness of RNAi whiteflies. These data suggest that pantothenate synthesis requires cooperation and coordination of whitefly PanBC expression and Portiera . This host–symbiont co-regulation was mediated by the pantothenate level. Our findings demonstrated that pantothenate production, by the cooperation of a horizontally acquired, fused bacteria gene and Portiera , facilitates the coordination of whitefly and symbiont fitness. Thus, this study extends our understanding on the basis of complex host–symbiont interactions.

The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of microRNA (miR)-155-5p on the expression of testican-1 (SPOCK1) and the invasion and migration of prostate cancer cells in vitro. Bioinformatics analysis and molecular biology assays revealed that SPOCK1 may be a direct target gene of miR-155-5p. In addition, a negative correlation was identified between SPCOK1 and miR-155-5p expression in prostate tumor tissues and cell lines. miR-155-5p mimic transfection inhibited SPOCK1 expression in PC3 cells and decreased cell migration and invasion abilities, while the expression of vimentin, N-cadherin, E-cadherin, β-catenin, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)3 and MMP9 was upregulated. In summary, SPOCK1 was found to be a target gene of miR155-5p in prostate cancer, and miR-155-5p acts as a tumor-suppressor gene and may inhibit SPOCK1-mediated prostate cancer progression.

Species are not only the fundamental unit of taxonomy but also the basic unit of pest management. Insects of Conogethes are important agricultural and forestry pests. However, species boundaries within Conogethes often appear obscure. In the present study, we re-evaluated the species status of Conogethes by applying three species delimitation approaches based on the mitochondrial DNA sequences, with particular emphasis on the yellow peach moth C. punctiferalis (Guenee, 1854). We first optimized species delimitation and inter-species genetic divergence threshold using a DNA barcoding dataset. Our results revealed that several nominal species of Conogethes species harbored deeply diverged mitochondrial lineages which were recognized as independent species by the species delimitation methods. The p-distance between the delimited putative species ranged from 0.0159 to 0.1321 with a mean of 0.0841. Then we refined the species status of C. punctiferalis using the smallest interspecific distance threshold based on a geographically comprehensive population-scale dataset. This procedure narrowed the species concept of C. punctiferalis to a genetically coherent unit. Further investigation of its intraspecific divergence in the geographic context revealed that the refined C. punctiferalis was still widely distributed with the same or highly similar mitochondrial haplotypes occurring across South and East Asia.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.Footnotes* Minor typo errors corrected. Frequency of haplotype H14 was 44 but not H15.

研究目的：减缓Stargardt 和年龄相关性黄斑变性患者视力损失的基因和药物疗法正处于发展中，然而为了评价对实验小鼠的治疗效果，有机溶剂是获取及定量小鼠后眼罩脂褐质色素必需的载体。本工作报道了有机溶剂对N-亚视黄基-N-视黄基乙醇胺（A2E）和全反式视黄醛二聚体两种重要脂褐质色素的影响以及从体内获取和定量它们的优化方法。创新要点：本文阐释了二甲亚砜、甲醇、氯仿、四氢呋喃、环己烷和乙醇对A2E 和全反式视黄醛二聚体两种脂褐质色素的影响，并且优化了它们的体内获取及定量程序。研究方法：采用高效液相色谱技术分析A2E 和全反式视黄醛二聚体溶液以及C57BL/6小鼠后眼罩浸膏。重要结论：氯仿和四氢呋喃能够改变A2E 和全反式视黄醛二聚体，但是它们在二甲亚砜和甲醇中是稳定的；环己烷和乙醇不影响全反式视黄醛二聚体，然而A2E 在乙醇中不稳定，在环己烷中溶解度很低。脂褐质元素体内获取及定量的优化方法能够释放出更多的全反式视黄醛二聚体和 A2E。理解有机溶剂对脂褐质色素的影响将为正确使用这些色素提供洞察力，也可促进建立每个内源性色素测量的合理方法。

In this paper, static-pressure strength, toughness index (TI) and thermal-toughness index (TTI) of each sample have been analyzed on the basis of the experimental studies on the magnetic separation and heavy liquid separation of diamond abrasives. The results show that the magnetism of synthetic diamond abrasives has an obvious influence on their mechanical performances. With the increase of magnetism, synthetic diamond abrasive particles becomes darker and darker in appearance color, and have more bubbles, impurities and defects inside the particles, furthermore, their surface fineness observed under the microscope will be found worse. While, the static-pressure strength, the TI under the normal temperature and TTI all become lower and lower. But the influence on the static-pressure strength and the TI is smaller, however the influence on TTI is the greater. The specific gravity of synthetic diamond abrasives has little influence on their mechanical performances.

Age-related macular degeneration （AMD） is still an incurable blinding eye disease because of complex pathogenic mechanisms and unusual diseased regions.With the use of chemical biology tools,great progress has been achieved in improving the understanding of AMD pathogenesis.The severity of AMD is,at least in part,linked to the non-degradable lipofuscin bis-retinoids in retinal pigment epithelial （RPE）.This material is thought to result from the lifelong accumulation of lysosomal residual bodies containing the end products derived from the daily phagocytosis of rod outer segments by RPE cells.Here,we present previously recognized bis-retinoids with focus on structures and biosynthetic pathways.In addition to a brief discussion on the mutual conversion relationships of bis-retinoids,future perspectives and the medical relevance of such studies on these lipofuscin constituents are also highlighted.