Aug 2026· Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology· pp.
104664
· 0 citations· 64 references
Medicine
Abstract
Reproduction in insects is a tightly regulated process that relies on the accumulation of yolk protein precursors (YPPs) to support embryonic development. Vitellogenin, the main YPP, is synthesized in the fat body-analogous to the liver and adipose tissue of vertebrates-and transported through the hemolymph to the ovarian follicles, where it is internalized by developing oocytes via the vitellogenin receptor (VgR). Despite its essential role in vitellogenesis, the functional characterization of insect VgR remains incomplete. Triatomines are hematophagous insects and vectors of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease. In this study, we characterized the VgR of Dipetalogaster maxima (DmaxVgR), a triatomine species, using biochemical, molecular, and bioinformatics approaches. The DmaxVgR gene was cloned, sequenced, and annotated, revealing a highly conserved protein sequence. Phylogenetic analysis clustered VgR amino acid sequences by taxonomic groups. Structural modeling of DmaxVgR showed a conserved folding pattern, enabling docking analyses with a modeled vitellogenin and indicating a stable interaction between the two proteins. DmaxVgR gene silencing disrupted follicular architecture and reduced vitellogenin uptake by the oocytes, resulting in increased vitellogenin levels in the hemolymph. Concurrently, elevated vitellogenin transcript levels and vitellogenin amounts in the fat body suggest a feedback mechanism regulating YPP production. Together, our findings provide new insights into the role and molecular regulation of VgR in triatomine reproduction and offer a framework for future studies exploring its potential relevance for vector control strategies.
This study constructed a pH-responsive P-TN/SF@Fe-Cur composite coating that demonstrated significant anti-infective, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, pro-angiogenic, and pro-osteogenic effects in rat subcutaneous infection and femoral defect models.
The results show that alternative transcript diversity extensively enters translation-supported proteoform space and establish a systematic link between transcript variation and protein functional diversification.
Felicia T. Jiang, Dengwang Chen, Ziwei Wang et al.· bioRxiv· 1 citation
Protein therapeutic design and property prediction are frequently hampered by data scarcity. Here we propose a model, DyAb, that addresses these issues by leveraging a pair-wise representation to predict differences in binding affinity, rather than absolute values. DyAb is built on top of a pre-trained protein language model and achieves a Spearman rank correlation of up to 0.85 on binding affinity prediction across monoclonal antibodies targeting three different antigens (EGFR, IL-6, and an internal target), given as few as 100 training data. We employ DyAb in two design contexts: as a ranking model to score combinations of known mutations, and combined with a genetic algorithm to generate new sequences. Our method consistently generates antibody variants with high binding rates, including designs that improve on the binding affinity of the lead molecule by more than ten-fold. DyAb represents a powerful tool for optimizing antibody binding affinity in low data regimes common in early-stage drug development.
Joshua Yao-Yu Lin, Jennifer L. Hofmann, Andrew Leaver‐Fay et al.· mAbs· 1 citation
Due to its importance and wide adoption, wheat cultivation is promptly required to shift towards sustainable practices, reducing the dependency on chemical components. Among bio-based solutions aimed at securing the sustainability of wheat cultivation, biostimulants offer a versatile platform of eco-friendly tools assuring sustainability and profitability. Microalgae present a concrete example of a biostimulant source due to their richness in metabolites and high value products. Therefore, this study evaluated the biostimulant potential of eleven eco-extracts prepared from soil-isolated microalgae strains. Eco-extracts applied via soil drench at low dose (0.1 g/L) were investigated for their biostimulant effects on wheat growth, physiology, yield, and quality under controlled conditions. Results demonstrated significant ameliorations in treated plants as compared to the control, with no phytoinhibitory effects. Remarkable enhancements were notable in growth parameters such as shoot and root lengths (+40-70%), physiological traits such as total chlorophyll and stomatal conductance (+7-52%), yield components in the example of grain number per spike and thousand grain weight (+17-103%), and grain quality namely protein and polyphenol content (+2-fold to 4-fold). Similarly, phosphorus accumulation and uptake were significantly improved, while soil physicochemical status was ameliorated, indicating enhanced fertility. Multivariate analysis and composite index ranking marked Chlorella sp. GA18, Chlorella sp. GA65, Scenedesmus sp. GA69, and Chlorococcum sp. GA63 as eco-extracts with consistent performances across all plant traits. These findings highlighted the promising potential of integrating microalgae-based eco-friendly extracts in sustainable wheat cultivation.
Amer Chabili, Z. Hakkoum, F. Minaoui et al.· Plant Science· 1 citation
ProteinReasoner is developed, a multimodal generative protein foundation model that sequentially connects amino acid sequence, evolutionary constraints and three-dimensional structure within a shared autoregressive architecture and suggests a general route towards reasoning across interdependent representations in other scientific domains.
Chaozhong Liu, Linlin Chao, Shaomin Ji et al.· bioRxiv· 1 citation
HydroGym is introduced, a solver-independent reinforcement learning platform providing more than 60 validated, openly available flow control environments spanning from canonical laminar flows to complex turbulent flows, with systematic progression in the Reynolds number up to Re = 4 × 105, and Mach number variations in two and three dimensions.
Christian Lagemann, Sajeda Mokbel, Miro Gondrum et al.· Nature· 1 citation