Biological Science and Technology Information Pharaoh Ant · Catnip ・ Light Immunity ・ Dietary Supplement • Insect Marriage Fly • 1 cm Bacteria · Two Crawling Aging · Mites • Antarctic Midge

Original: Biological science and technology information | Pharaoh ant • catnip • light immunity • dietary supplement ・ insect marriage fly · 1 cm bacteria · two climbing aging · mites • Antarctic midge

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1

Why can ants have a clear division of labor?

It turned out to be a different "brain circuit"

From the June 17 "Science Times" reported that in the evolution of animals, a major turning point is the emergence of social organization, so that the adaptability of animals has been greatly strengthened

Social grade differentiation of pharaonic ants

Image source: Liu Weiwei and others

In order to reveal the inherent mechanism of ant grade differentiation, the research team used pharaonic ants as model organisms to carry out research

By comparing the cellular composition of the four adult brains of pharaonic ants, the results of the study showed that ants not only had obvious differentiation in body shape, but also in brain structure and function

"This means that worker ants are more olfactory-aware animals, with better learning and memory abilities and advanced cognitive functions, the ability to process complex information, and more flexible behavioral strategies

Three-dimensional structural reconstruction of brain structures of different grades of pharaonic ants

Image credit: Bjarke H.

2

Where did the catnip "magic" come from

An excerpt from The China Science Daily on June 17 reported that catnip makes cats "crazy" — the latter rubbing, rolling, chewing and licking catnip

Image credit: Nils Jacobi/Shutterstock

Why do catnip and woody indigo have such "magic" on cats? The paper's lead author, Masao Miyazaki, a researcher in animal behavior at Iwate University, wanted to find out what was going on

In previous studies, Miyazaki's team demonstrated that these compounds were effective in repelling Aedes albopictus

To test whether the cats had a particular response to these mixtures, the researchers provided the cats with plates

Next, Miyazaki's team plans to understand which genes cause cats to respond

Related paper information:

3

Light immunotherapy

Can "light up" and remove cancer cells

Animal experiments

The new therapy, published in the journal BMC Medicine, combines

4

Why do some people fight so often

Or associated with a genetic mutation

Excerpted from the China Science Popularization Network reported on June 22 that some people in the crowd were gentle and elegant, and some were tyrannical

Shi Yun introduced that in past studies, researchers found that knocking out the GRIA3 gene encoding glutamate receptor GluA3 on the X chromosome from male mice showed strong aggressive behavior

Subsequently, the researchers found that 9 of the 294 male violent crimes served sentences carried 10G, and another 1 carried 11G, accounting for 3.
4%
of the total.
Of the 937 community men with no criminal record, only 2 carried 10G (0.
2%), and no 11G carriers were
found.
"This shows that the carriers of 10G and 11G are much higher than the normal control population among violent crime offenders, and 10G and 11G seriously inhibit the expression of GluA3, increasing the risk
of aggressive behavior.
" Shi Yun introduced
.

5

Vitamins and dietary supplements

Is a "waste of money"

From the June 23 "China Science News" reported that attracted by the multivitamin and dietary supplements, Americans spend nearly $
50 billion on vitamins and dietary supplements in 2021.
But scientists say taking vitamins is a waste for healthy people who are not pregnant because there is "not enough evidence" that vitamins help prevent cardiovascular disease or cancer
.
"Patients keep asking, 'What supplement should I take?' Jeffrey Linder, director of internal medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, said, "They think there must be magic pills that keep us healthy, but in reality, we should all follow evidence-based healthy eating and exercise methods
.
" On June 21, Linder and other scientists at Northwestern University School of Medicine wrote an editorial in support of the new recommendations of the U.
S.
Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), published in JAMA
.

The new guidelines do not recommend taking vitamin E
.

Image credit: Michelle Arnold/Alamy

The USPSTF is an independent panel of experts who frequently make evidence-based recommendations
on clinical prevention services.
Based on a systematic review of 84 studies, the new USPSTF guidelines note that there is "insufficient evidence" to suggest that taking a multivitamin, paired supplement, or single supplement can help prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer
in healthy, unpregnant adults.
The USPSTF specifically recommends not taking β-carotene supplements because it may increase the risk of lung cancer; Vitamin E supplements are also not recommended because they have no net benefit
in reducing mortality, cardiovascular disease, or cancer.

"Unfortunately, talking about supplements when doctors and patients have very limited time to meet often misses a consultation on how to really reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, such as through exercise or quitting smoking
.
" Linder said
.
Linder and colleagues wrote in jama's editorial that more than half of U.
S.
adults take dietary supplements, and the use of supplements is expected to increase
.
Eating fruits and vegetables is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, they say, so there's reason to think that key vitamins and minerals can be extracted from fruits and vegetables and packaged into pills, saving people the hassle and expense
of maintaining a balanced diet.

But the scientists explain that fruits and vegetables contain a mixture of vitamins, phytochemicals, fiber and other nutrients that may have a synergistic effect and health benefits
.
The role of micronutrients in the body alone may differ from what it does when combined naturally with many other dietary components
.
Linder notes that people with vitamin deficiencies can still benefit from dietary supplements, such as calcium and vitamin D, which have been shown to prevent fractures and falls
in older adults.
The new USPSTF guidelines do not apply to people who are
pregnant or trying to conceive.
"Pregnant women should remember that these guidelines don't apply to them
.
" One of the editorial co-authors, Natalie Cameron of Northwestern University School of Medicine, said, "Certain vitamins, folic acid, are essential
for healthy fetal development.
The most common way to meet these needs is to take prenatal vitamins
.
We also need more data to understand how specific vitamin supplements alter adverse pregnancy outcomes and the risk
of cardiovascular complications during pregnancy.
”

In addition, a recent study by Northwestern University found that most U.
S.
women had poor
heart health before becoming pregnant.
Cameron said that in addition to discussing vitamin supplementation, doctors working with patients to optimize cardiovascular health before pregnancy is an important part
of prenatal care.

Related paper information:

6

180 million years ago

Insects have already held a "group wedding"

From the June 25 "Science and Technology Daily" reported that many insects have the behavior
of marriage and flight.
Whenever it is spring and summer, flocks of flying insects gather in an area to fly, which is actually a wedding flight
.
The study suggests that this complex swarm marriage flight was already present in the ephemeral basal taxons of the early Jurassic 180 million years ago
.
Finding a preferred mate and breeding the next generation is an important instinctive act of biology
.
Recently, researchers from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Nanjing Institute of Paleontology) found a wealth of marine and terrestrial animal and plant fossils in the underground Jurassic stone echelon of the Xiwan Basin in Hezhou City, Guangxi Province, establishing the "West Bay Biota" and revealing the oldest insect marriage flight behavior, which is also the oldest insect resource pulse phenomenon
.
In layman's terms, a wedding flight is a large-scale "group wedding"
.
This result provides important evidence
for our in-depth understanding of the characteristics and evolution of Mesozoic lake ecosystems, as well as the links between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
The results were published in the journals
Geology and Historical Biology.

Courtesy of Visual China

The Mesozoic research in the Xiwan Basin has a long history, and academicians Si Xingjian and Zhou Zhiyan of the Nanjing Institute of Paleontology have studied plant fossils produced in Xiwan, among which the insect fossils of the Shiti Formation have been reported
intensively by researcher Lin Qibin.
This time, the research team carried out a comprehensive study of stratigraphy, paleobotany, paleoentomy, and sedimentology, and named the fossils such as shark egg sheaths, insects, and plants found in the Stone Ladder Formation as "West Bay Biota"
with other fossils reported before.
Among the excavated fossils, the research team found a spectacular layer of ephemeral adult cluster fossils in the stone ladder group, and the number of ephemera individuals was as high as hundreds
.
These ephemera are a new taxon, the Jurassic ephemera of The Zhang family, which belongs to the basal taxonomy of ephemera in taxonomic
positions.
This is the first discovery of the sand ephemeral family in China and is the most well-preserved fossil
known to the family.
In the fossil layer, the adult ephemerals overlap each other, and the insect bodies are oriented in different directions
.
A statistical map of the preservation direction of 381 adult insects in the fossil layer shows that these ephemeral fossils
have no obvious orientation.
"Ephemerals are often thought to be 'twilight and die' and have a very short lifespan, but they actually spend some time
in the water before they become adults.
" Zhang Qianqi told reporters that most of the life cycle of live ephemerals live in water, and the feathered adults usually only survive for a few hours to a few days
.
In the short adult stage, male individuals form dense clusters in the air, and female individuals must find males to mate in the process of flying in and through male clusters, and then find suitable places to lay eggs in order to achieve offspring reproduction
.

This study reveals the oldest insect resource pulse effect
.
Aquatic insects play an important role in the food web, being the decomposer and consumer of aquatic plants, while also becoming food
for fish and other predators.
When aquatic insects feather from the water, spread to land and look for mates, they become an important part of
the terrestrial food web.
In addition to feeding predators, sudden clusters of insects can also have a "fattening effect" on plant communities near lakes and streams, as clusters of these insects die and decompose into fertilizer
for ecosystems.

The results of this study show that The Jurassic ephemera feathers from the water in clusters within a short period of time, forming insect pulses from water to land, which may lead to huge changes in the ecosystem flux of the waterfront habitat, which in turn affects the basic ecological and biogeochemical cycles
.

7

Scientists have found bacteria that are 1 cm long

An excerpt from the June 27 china science newspaper reported that in the mangroves of Guadeloupe Island in the Caribbean Sea, some strange filamentous creatures lurk on
the rotten leaves that sink to the bottom of the sea.
These filamentous organisms can reach up to 1 centimeter in length and are the largest single-celled bacteria ever discovered, 50 times larger than
known bacteria.
They live
on sulfur oxide.
In 2009, Olivier Gros, a biologist at the University of Antilles in France, discovered the bacteria
while exploring the mangroves of Guadeloupe.
Gros initially thought it was a fungus, not a bacterium
.
Back in the lab, Gros realized under a microscope that the creature was not eukaryotes
.
In 2018, Jean-Marie Volland, a marine biologist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States, used a range of methods to look more closely at the bacteria and confirmed that it was a single-celled organism
.
The findings were published In Science
on June 23.

Filamentous macroscells have more complex internal tissues
than typical bacteria.

Image credit: Olivier Gros

This bacterium is called Thiomagarita magnifica
.
According to Volland, scientists have also found other filamentous bacteria in mangroves, but they are all made up
of dozens or hundreds of cells.
T.
magnifica is unique in that its filaments are the longest in mangroves and are made up of
one cell.
The core of the bacteria is a vacuole – an inert, liquid-filled membrane surrounded by membrane-binding structures
.
The researchers named it "pepins" and described it as similar to the organelles
found in eukaryotic cells.
In other bacteria, genetic material floats freely within cells, usually with only one circular chromosome
.
And in T.
In magnifica, researchers found that genetic information is stored in thousands of pepins
.
Each of these contains DNA and ribosomes, and together these pepins hold up to 700,000 copies
of the genome.
About T.
Magnifica also has a number of questions, including whether the specific habitat of mangroves contains a large number of sulfur-containing molecules and sulfur-eating microorganisms, which are essential
for the presence of this bacterium.
Pepins themselves need to be looked at more closely to determine whether they all contain the same genetic material, ribosomes, and protein mixtures
.

The researchers have sequenced entire cells, which contain hundreds of thousands of pepins
.
"But we haven't sequenced
individual pepins yet.
" Volland said they don't know whether each pepins contains only one copy of the genome or multiple
.
T.
Magnifica's findings suggest that larger and more complex bacteria may be hidden from view
.
Gros hopes the other teams will continue to look for larger bacteria
.
Petra Levin, a biologist at Washington University in St.
Louis, believes the discovery challenges the conventional wisdom
that bacteria are smaller than eukaryotic cells.
Bacteria are endlessly adaptable, always surprising and should never be underestimated
.

Related paper information:

largest study to date revealed

The secret of reptile amphibian aging

An international team of 114 scientists published the most comprehensive global study
of the aging and longevity of reptiles and amphibians to date at Science on June 23.
The study reported for the first time that turtles, crocodiles and salamanders have particularly low rates of aging and that their body size extends their lifespan
.
In addition, protective phenotypes, such as the hard shells of most turtles, can help delay aging, and in some cases can even "ignore aging", or lack biological aging characteristics
.
Jonathan, a 190-year-old Seychellois giant tortoise, is currently "the oldest living terrestrial animal in the world" and has made the news focus
.

Turtle

Image credit: Brian E Kushner

"There is evidence that some reptiles and amphibians age slowly and live longer
.
But no large-scale studies
of the wild species have been conducted to date.
Author David Miller, associate professor of wildlife population ecology at Pennsylvania State University, said
.
An international team led by American scientists conducted the most comprehensive study of aging and longevity to date, collecting data from 107 wild populations of 77 reptile and amphibian species worldwide
.
Using phylogenetic comparison methods, the researchers captured, labeled, released the animals into the wild and observed
them.
Their goal was to analyze and compare the aging and lifespan changes of thermostatic animals in the wild with thermostatic animals, and to validate previous hypotheses
related to aging.
Miller said that the previous "thermoregulation mode hypothesis" showed that the metabolic rate of thermotropic animals is generally lower because they need to absorb external heat to regulate body temperature, while thermostatic animals generate heat from the inside and have a higher metabolic rate, so thermostatic animals age more slowly
than thermostatic animals.
Just as people think rats age fast because they have a high metabolic rate, turtles age slowly because they have a low
metabolic rate.

However, the results of the study showed that the aging rate of the thermostatic animals was much higher or much lower than that of the thermostatic animals of similar body shape, indicating that the way the animals regulated their body temperature did not necessarily predict the aging rate or longevity
of their lifespan.
"We found no evidence
to support low metabolic rates meaning slow aging in warming animals.
This correspondence applies only to turtles, indicating that turtles are unique among temperate animals
.
Miller said
.
Previous "protective phenotypic hypotheses" suggest that animals with physical or chemical features protected, such as nails, spines, shells, or venom, age slower and live longer
.
The team demonstrated that these protective traits do slow down animal aging, and that they do live much
longer than animals without protective traits.
"These different protection mechanisms can reduce mortality
.
As a result, they are more likely to live longer
.
We found that turtles are the best proof of the protective phenotypic hypothesis
.
This proves once again that the turtle group is unique
.
Beth Reinke, first author of the paper and assistant professor of biology at Northeastern Illinois University, said
.

Interestingly, the team observed at least one species with negligible aging in every population of variable temperature animals, such as frogs and toads, crocodiles and turtles
.
"Negligible aging means that if an animal's probability of dying at age 10 is 1%, then its probability of dying at age 100 is still 1%.

In contrast, the risk of death in adult women in the United States is about 1 in 2500 at age 10, and by age 80, the risk of death rises to about 1 in 24
.
Miller said
.
They don't get old at all, which sounds dramatic, and the fact is that once the breeding period has passed, the likelihood of death basically doesn't change
with age.
Reinke said
.

Related paper information:

are parasitizing from the outside

Transition to internal symbiosis

A new study published in Molecular Biology and Evolution recently found that tiny mites that live in human pores and mate on our faces at night are constantly simplifying and may soon merge with humans
.

Mites, tiny creatures about 0.
3 mm long, are found in almost everyone's face, nipples, and even eyelashes, and they will eat the sebum
naturally secreted by cells in the pores.
As pores become larger, adult insect populations peak
.
They are very active at night, moving between hair follicles in search of a mate
.
The first genome sequencing of hair follicular demodex mites found that their isolated presence and the resulting phenomenon of inbreeding caused unnecessary loss of genes and cells and the transition
from external parasitism to internal symbiosis.
"We found that the genetic sequencing of body parts of these mites differs from other similar species because they adapt to hidden life
within the pores.
" These DNA changes lead to some unusual physical characteristics and behaviors of
mites.
One of the study leaders, Alejandra Perotti, an associate professor of invertebrate biology at the University of Reading in the UK, said
.

The team's in-depth study of hair follicular demodex mite DNA showed that they existed in isolation, were not exposed to external threats, did not compete, and did not encounter mites with different genes, which led to genetic reduction, making them extremely simple organisms
with small legs and only 3 cells of muscles that powered them.
They require very little protein to survive, the lowest amount
seen in this and related species.
This reduction in genes also causes them to be more active
at night.
These mites lack UV protection and lose their genes
to be awakened by daylight.
They also can't produce melatonin, but they can use the melatonin secreted by human skin at dusk to replenish their overnight
mating.
The unique genetic sequencing of hair follicular demodex mites has also led to unusual mating habits
.
Their reproductive organs move forward, and during mating the male must immobilize himself under the female and mate close to the human hair
.

In addition, studies have found that juvenile mites have more
cells than adult mites.
This is contrary
to the previous hypothesis that parasites reduce cell numbers early in development.
The researchers believe that this is the first step
for mites to become symbiotes.

Due to the lack of access to potential mates who might add new genes to their offspring, these mites could walk into evolutionary "dead ends" and become extinct
.
Researchers have observed this phenomenon in bacteria inside cells, but not in animals
.
In addition, the study "rehabilitated"
mites.
Previously, some researchers believed that mites have no anus and accumulate feces throughout their lives and are released when they die, causing human skin to become inflamed
.
However, the study confirmed that mites have an anus
.

Related paper information:

10

The only native insect in Antarctica

At risk of extinction

According to a June 29 report by China Science Daily, the Antarctic midge may be smaller than a pea, but it is the largest land-dwelling animal in Antarctica and the only native insect
.
A study recently published in Functional Ecology found that Antarctic midges have evolved to survive extreme conditions, but that warming climates may pose a threat
to them.
Unlike temperate midges, which live in water in populations, Antarctic midges live mainly in the humid areas of the Antarctic Peninsula and nearby islands
.
They have a slower pace of life, with a life cycle of up to two years, and spend most of their time in the form of larvae
.
Nicholas Teets, an insect physiologist at the University of Kentucky in the United States and one of the study's authors, said that the brown worm-like larvae "are not outstanding in appearance, but their ability to survive under stress is excellent
.
"

Antarctic midge larvae

Image credit: RICK LEE JR

Midges have spent 40 million years perfecting their survival strategies
.
They can withstand harsh winter temperatures
.
To prevent ice from causing damage to their own internal tissues, overwintering larvae lose up to 70% of their body fluids
.
Once the body "freezes", the larvae stay in a suspended state called diapause for about 6 months
.
During this time, they don't eat, move, or do anything
else.
As climate change causes Rapid Warming in Antarctica, Teets and colleagues wanted to know how small changes in winter temperatures would affect Antarctic midges
.

To do this, the team collected Antarctic midge larvae from several islands near the Antarctic continent and placed them in incubators of 3 temperatures: -5 °C (cold Antarctic winter), -3 °C (typical winter), and -1 °C (warm winter).

Earlier in June, the researchers reported that six months after the Antarctic midge larvae were placed in the incubator, they found that the larvae in the "warm winter" incubator had lower survival rates, slower movements, and smaller
energy reserves.
Depletion of stored energy can cause trouble
for Antarctic midge breeding.
This is because after the larvae recover from diapause, they quickly become adult worms without a functional mouth and must rely on their own reserve energy to survive the breeding season
.
Joshua Benoit, an entomologist at the University of Cincinnati who was not involved in the work, said that if a warm winter "'burns' more larval sanctuaries, then these larvae will eventually become extinct on some islands.
"

Since only a few species in Antarctica live on land, even if one species disappears, it may reshape the food chain
.
However, "it may not all be pessimistic"
.
Teets said, "If the winter is both warm and short, then the Antarctic midge can start eating earlier in the summer, entering the growth cycle and making up for the lost reserve energy
.
" Teets said the next step is to monitor Antarctic midge populations in the wild to see how they respond
to temperature changes.
But he noted that winter fieldwork in Antarctica is challenging, so it may take a while
to document any changes.

Related paper information:

11

Calcium signaling regulation

Plant callus formation

From the Science Network reported on June 30, plant cells have a high topotent, which gives plants a strong regenerative ability
under living and ex vivo conditions.
At present, the plant ex vivo regeneration system developed based on the totipotency of plant cells has been widely used in
plant biotechnology and genetic improvement.
In the classical plant ex vivo regeneration system, auxin-induced callus formation is the first step in ex vivo regeneration, which has always been considered to be the process of plant cell dedifferentiation to obtain totipotency, and also largely determines the regenerative ability
of plants.
Recent studies have shown that auxin-induced callus formation is achieved through the root development pathway, during which activation of gene traits of root stem cells is necessary for de novo regeneration of the
organ.
Calcium signaling is an important cellular signal for eukaryotes and is involved in multiple processes
that regulate developmental and environmental responses.
The media currently used for ex vivo regeneration of plants contains a higher concentration of calcium ion components
.
However, to date, the regulation of whether calcium signaling is involved in callus formation and plant regeneration has not been clear
.

Pattern diagram of CaM-IQM calcium signaling complex regulating lateral root (left) and callus (right) formation

Image credit: PNAS

In the process of identifying important factors regulating the ability of plant callus formation, the research group of Hu Yuxin of the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that a dominant negative mutation in the opneulin (CaM) binding protein IQM5 of Arabidopsis thaliana significantly inhibited the callus formation ability
of each organ.
Studies have shown that the absence of caM-IQM members of the calcium ion signaling module in Arabidopsis thaliana leads to defects
in callus and lateral root formation.
Further studies have found that the calcium signaling module CaM-IQM can interact with the key inhibitors of auxin signaling, IAAs, in a calcium-dependent manner, de-inhibiting the auxin response factor ARF7 in the pathway, thereby influencing the expression of downstream control lateral root and callus formation key factors to promote lateral root and callus formation
.

The study not only found that the calcium signaling complex CaM-IQM is an important factor regulating auxin-induced callus and lateral root formation, but also revealed a molecular pathway
in which calcium signaling and auxin signaling interact to regulate plant regeneration and development.
The findings are instructive
for an in-depth understanding of the function of calcium signaling in plant regeneration and development.
The research was published online on June 28 in the international academic journal PNAS

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