One of the distinct characters of Latrodectus tredecimguttatus is that its toxic components exist not only in the venomous glands, but also in the tissues outside the venomous glands and even in the eggs. Investigation on the toxins outside the venomous glands can deepen our understanding of spider toxins and discover new lead molecules with important application prospects. In order to explore the low-abundance proteinaceous toxins in the L. tredecimguttatus eggs, we used bioinformatic strategies to mine a gene sequence encoding a peptide toxin from the transcriptome of L. tredecimguttatus eggs, and then heterologously expressed the gene successfully with a 3'-RACE combined with nest PCR strategy. Biological activity analyses indicated that the expressed peptide toxin, named latroeggtoxin-Ⅵ (LETX-Ⅵ), could inhibit Na⁺ channel currents in ND7/23 cells and promote dopamine release from PC12 cells, without obvious toxicity against Periplaneta americana and bacteria as well as fungi including Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans, demonstrating that LETX-Ⅵ is a mammal-specific neurotoxin with a potential application prospect in development of the tool reagents for neurobiological study and the drugs for treating related diseases.
Animals ; Arthropod Proteins/genetics* ; Black Widow Spider/genetics* ; Cloning, Molecular ; Rats ; Spider Venoms/genetics* ; Transcriptome

Latrodectus tredecimguttatus (commonly known as black widow spiders) have toxins not only in their venom glands, but also in other parts of their body, in their eggs and even in the newborn spiderlings. The study on the toxins in venom and materials outside the venom glands of the spiders to elucidate their differences and similarities, evolutional relationship and biological functions is of important theoretical and applicable significance. The development of modern protein chemistry and proteomics techniques has provided efficient means for the study of protein and peptide toxins of L. tredecimguttatus. By using such techniques, the molecular base and action mechanism of the toxins can be revealed at the levels of both single purified proteins and omics. Up to now, although protein chemistry and proteomics study on L. tredecimguttatus toxins have achieved a certain progress, the relevant work particularly that on the toxins in the materials outside the venom glands has to be further deepened.
Animals ; Arthropod Proteins ; chemistry ; Black Widow Spider ; chemistry ; Proteomics ; Venoms ; chemistry

BACKGROUND: Several inhalant allergens are newly identified from arthropods including insects or arachnids recently. Aphids (Heteroptera: Aphididae) are widespread sucking insects, which are parasitic on numerous host plants such as various crops, trees and weeds. Among aphids, Aphis gossypii is a particularly polyphagous species that has been described on almost 300 host plants from various botanical families. Thus A. gossypii is found throughout the country and is a species anyone can easily contact. It is unknown whether aphids have a role in the pathogenesis of respiratory allergy. OBJECTIVE: We assumed that aphids can act as an inhalant allergen on the hypothesis that numerous allergenic materials are released from aphids and become airborne. Using a representative species, A. gossypii, this study was performed to evaluate the antigenicity of an aphid allergen in patients with respiratory allergic diseases. METHODS: Skin prick test with crude extracts of A. gossypii and 50 common inhalant allergens was performed for 225 subjects with respiratory allergic diseases (bronchial asthma and/or rhinitis). A. gossypii-specific IgE (sIgE) were detected by means of ELISA, and IgE- binding components were identified by SDS-PAGE with immunoblot analysis. RESULTS: Of the 225 enrolled subjects, 37 (16.4%) subjects showed positive skin reactivity to A. gossypii. Of them, 17 (7.6%) subjects had A. gossypii-sIgE by ELISA. The SDS-PAGE of A. gossypii extracts showed various protein bands ranging from 9 to 200 kd. Of them, diverse IgE-binding pattern was noted for individual subject by immunoblot analysis. The inhibitory ELISA results indicated that IgE binding to A. gossypii was partially inhibited by the allergenic extracts of house dust mite (HDM), cockroach, or other aphid (Acyrthosiphon kondoi). Finally, A. gossypii-bronchial challenge test was conducted for one asthmatic farmer with skin reactivity to A. gossypii and strong job-related symptoms, but showed no significant response. CONCLUSION: A. gossypii can elicit IgE response in some patients with respiratory allergic diseases. A. gossypii may have a cross-reactivity with HDM and cockroach. Further study will be needed to evaluate its clinical significance in respiratory allergy patients.
Allergens ; Aphids* ; Arachnida ; Arthropods ; Asthma ; Cockroaches ; Complex Mixtures ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Immunoglobulin E ; Insects ; Pyroglyphidae ; Skin ; Trees

A survey was performed in Korea to monitor the prevalence of five bovine arboviruses [Akabane virus, Aino virus, Chuzan virus, bovine ephemeral fever (BEF) virus, and Ibaraki virus] in arthropod vectors, such as Culicoides species. To determine the possible applications of survey data in annual monitoring and warning systems in Korea, we examined the prevalence of bovine arboviruses in arthropod vectors using RT-PCR. To compare the sensitivity and specificity of virus detection, nested PCR was also performed in parallel for all five viruses. Using the RT-PCR, the detection limits were at least up to 10(1.5), 10(2.8), 10(2.0), 10(1.8), and 10(4.0) TCID50/ml for Akabane virus, Aino virus, Chuzan virus, BEF virus, and Ibaraki virus, respectively. When nested PCR was performed using 1 micronl of PCR product, the detection limits were increased, to 10(0.05), 10(1.8), 10(1.0), 10(0.008), and 10(2.0) TCID50/ml for Akabane virus, Aino virus, Chuzan virus, BEF virus, and Ibaraki virus, respectively. Thus, nested PCR increased the sensitivity of the virus detection limit by 1~2 log. We pooled 30~40 mosquitoes in one sample. We collected 113 samples in 2006, 135 samples in 2007, and 100 samples in 2008. Among these samples, Chuzan virus and BEF virus genes were detected at a range between 0.82% and 1.19%, and Akabane virus, Aino virus, and Ibaraki virus genes were detected at less than 0.20%. These data may provide some insight into future epidemiological studies of bovine arboviral diseases in Korea.
Animals ; Arboviruses ; Arthropod Vectors ; Arthropods ; Cattle ; Ceratopogonidae ; Culicidae ; Ephemeral Fever ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Korea ; Limit of Detection ; Organothiophosphorus Compounds ; Palyam Virus ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevalence ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Viruses

As the most efficient perception system in nature, the perception mechanism of the insect (such as honeybee) antennae is the key to imitating the high-performance sensor technology. An automated experimental device suitable for collecting electrical signals (including antenna reaction time information) of antennae was developed, in response to the problems of the non-standardized experimental process, interference of manual operation, and low efficiency in the study of antenna perception mechanism. Firstly, aiming at the automatic identification and location of insect heads in experiments, the image templates of insect head contour features were established. Insect heads were template-matched based on the Hausdorff method. Then, for the angle deviation of the insect heads relative to the standard detection position, a method that calculates the angle of the insect head mid-axis based on the minimum external rectangle of the long axis was proposed. Eventually, the electrical signals generated by the antennae in contact with the reagents were collected by the electrical signal acquisition device. Honeybees were used as the research object in this study. The experimental results showed that the accuracy of template matching could reach 95.3% to locate the bee head quickly, and the deviation angle of the bee head was less than 1°. The distance between antennae and experimental reagents could meet the requirements of antennae perception experiments. The parameters, such as the contact reaction time of honeybee antennae to sucrose solution, were consistent with the results of the manual experiment. The system collects effectively antenna contact signals in an undisturbed state and realizes the standardization of experiments on antenna perception mechanisms, which provides an experimental method and device for studying and analyzing the reaction time of the antenna involved in biological antenna perception mechanisms.
Animals ; Arthropod Antennae ; Bees

No abstract available.
Cockroaches*

A new isoprenylated acetophenone, acronyculatin P (1) as well as two known compounds, 3′,5′-diisoprenyl-2′,4′-dihydroxy-6′-methoxyphenylethanone (2) and 3′-isoprenyl-2′,4′,6′-trihydroxyphenylethanone (3) were isolated from the stem bark of Acronychia pedunculata (L.) Miq. The structures were determined by HRESIMS, 1D and 2D NMR. The inhibitory activity of the isoprenylated acetophenone derivatives against murine leukemia P-388 cells showed compound 1 moderate activity with IC₅₀ 15.42 µM.
Leukemia ; Rutaceae ; Thoracica

Arthropod-borne viruses (Arboviruses) are transmitted by arthropods such as Culicoides biting midges and cause abortion, stillbirth, and congenital malformation in ruminants, apparently leading to economic losses to farmers. To monitor the distribution of Culicoides and to determine their relationship with different environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, wind speed, and altitude of the farms) on 5 cattle farms, Culicoides were collected during summer season (May-September) in 2016 and 2017, and analyzed for identification of species and detection of arboviruses. About 35% of the Culicoides were collected in July and the collection rate increased with increase in temperature and humidity. The higher altitude where the farms were located, the more Culicoides were collected on inside than outside. In antigen test of Culicoides against 5 arboviruses, only Chuzan virus (CHUV) (2.63%) was detected in 2016. The Akabane virus (AKAV), CHUV, Ibaraki virus and Bovine ephemeral fever virus (BEFV) had a positive rate of less than 1.8% in 2017. In antigen test of bovine whole blood, AKAV (12.96%) and BEFV (0.96%) were positive in only one of the farms. As a result of serum neutralization test, antibodies against AKAV were generally measured in all the farms. These results suggest that vaccination before the season in which the Culicoides are active is probably best to prevent arbovirus infections.
Agriculture ; Altitude ; Animals ; Antibodies ; Arbovirus Infections ; Arboviruses ; Arthropods ; Cattle ; Ceratopogonidae ; Ephemeral Fever Virus, Bovine ; Farmers ; Humidity ; Jeollabuk-do ; Korea ; Neutralization Tests ; Palyam Virus ; Ruminants ; Seasons ; Stillbirth ; Vaccination ; Wind

Dung beetles (family Scarabaeidae) are one of the largest families of beetles worldwide. Due to biological behavior of these arthropods, they are considered to play an important role in the life cycle of some helminths. In the present study, dung beetles collected from cattle pastures in rural areas of Ardabil province, north-west of Iran were examined for infection with larval stages of helminths. According to the results, nematodes of 2 genera were identified including Rhabditis and Gongylonema. The more common species was Rhabditis sp. which was found in 9 species of beetles. Out of 15 different species of dung beetles, Copris lunaris was the only scarabaeid to be found naturally infected with the larval stages of Gongylonema sp. Our new findings introduce C. lunaris as a potential biological vector for transmission of Gongylonema sp. to vertebrates in the surveyed region.
Animals ; Arthropod Vectors/*parasitology ; Beetles/*parasitology ; Humans ; Iran/epidemiology ; Larva/physiology ; Rhabditoidea/isolation & purification/physiology ; Spirurida Infections/epidemiology/parasitology/*transmission ; Spiruroidea/isolation & purification/*physiology

A 40-year old male, Filipino, farmer, from Bakun, Benguet, presented with a 9 months history of itchiness of right ear. He reported that he was able to collect 4-5 insects every time he cleans his ear. Consult was done with an Ears, Nose and Throat specialist and video-otoscopic examination revealed multi pie animate foreign body (mites) at different stages of development. The patient underwent 5 sessions of ear flushing with warm water at intervals of 2 weeks for 3 months. Collected insects were referred to an entomologist and were identified as Suadasia pontifica Oudemans, belonging to family: Acaridae. Follow up consult after 5 sessions of ear flushing revealed complete removal of mite infestation of his right ear. Patient was instructed to do ear flushing twice daily using warm water mixed with 70% isopropyl alcohol to eradicate any eggs left behind. No other medications were given. Based on Philippine Journal of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Health Research and Development Information Network, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, this is the first reported case of human otoacariasis in the Philippines.
Mites ; Acari