Chitin and chitosan, abundant biopolymers from shellfish, crustaceans, and fungal hyphae, have diverse applications in food, biomedical, and industrial sectors. Also, insects offer a one of the chitin and chitosan source, yet research into the biological processes of chitin and chitosan within insects remains inadequate. To investigates the safety and benefits of insect-derived chitin and chitosan, we orally administered crab-derived and insect-derived chitin and chitosan to mice and compared RNA expression. NGS derived sequences were obtained and DEG and GO analyses were performed. This study displays a chance to progress the application of edible insects.

Because of the physiological and immunological similarities between pigs and humans, porcine embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have been identified as important candidates in preliminary studies on human disease. A comparative understanding of pig ESCs with the human is required to achieve these goals. To gain insights into pig stem cells, the transcriptome of pig ES-like cells were compared with pig preimplantation embryos and human/mouse pluripotent stem cells by RNA-seq analysis. As a result, pig stem cells were more similar to late epiblasts of pig preimplantation embryos than early ICM as revealed by transcriptome analysis, suggesting that pig stem cells are in a developmentally primed state. Moreover, the physiological and biological functions of pig ESCs were more similar to those of human PSCs than to those of mouse PSCs, as determined by direct differentiation and GO/KEGG term analysis. Overall, our data indicate that pig ESCs are in a primed pluripotent state resembling human PSCs. Our findings will facilitate both the development of large animal models for human stem cell therapy and the generation of pluripotent stem cells from other domestic animals for agricultural use. This work was supported by the Korea Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in food, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries (IPET) through the Development of High Value-Added Food Technology Program funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (MAFRA; 118042-03-1-HD020), and partially supported by the grants from the Agenda Program of Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea (No. PJ01362402)

Pheromone biosynthesis in the pheromone gland is stimulated by pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide (PBAN) produced in the suboesophageal ganglion. PBAN binds its receptor and transduces biological signal into the molecules for the pheromone biosynthesis. To understand pheromone biosynthesis pathway in legume pod borer, Maruca vitrata, transcriptome of the pheromone gland was analyzed. A total of 191 contigs involved in the pheromone biosynthesis were identified. Putative pheromone biosynthetic pathways for sex pheromone components in M. vitrata were proposed through transcriptomic analysis.

The hornets Vespa crabro and V. analis are widely distributed in Asia and are known to be aggressive when disturbed, resulting in frequent stinging accidents. To investigate the differences in venom properties and toxicities between these two hornets, the transcriptomic profiles of venom glands, in conjunction with the venom components, were analyzed and compared. A total of 35 venom-specific genes were identified in both venom gland transcriptomes, but their transcriptional profiles were different between V. crabro and V. analis. In addition, the major venom components were identified and confirmed by mass spectroscopy. Prepromastoparan, vespid chemotactic precursor and vespakinin were the top three genes most prevalently transcribed in the venom gland of V. crabro, and their transcription rates were 112-, 16- and 161-fold higher, respectively, compared with those in V. analis, as judged by FPKM values. In the venom gland of V. analis, however, vespid chemotactic precursor was the most abundantly transcribed gene, followed by premastoparan and vespakinin. In general, most major venom genes were more abundantly expressed in V. crabro, whereas some minor venom genes exhibited higher transcription rates in V. analis, including muscle LIM protein, troponin, paramyosin, calponin, etc. Our findings reveal that the overall venom components of V. crabro and V. analis are similar, but that their expression profiles and levels are considerably different. The comparison of venom gland transcriptomes suggests that V. crabro likely produces venom with more highly enriched major venom components, which has potentially higher toxicity compared with V. analis venom.

Vespa crabro is a cosmopolitan social wasp species whereas Vespa analis is commonly found in Asia. Both species are widely distributed in Korea and known to be aggressive when disturbed, resulting in frequent sting accidents. Although major venom components of well known Vespa wasps have been reported, no comparative transcriptomic analysis of venom gland between V. crabro and V. analis has been conducted to date. To investigate the differences in venom properties between these two wasps, total RNA was extracted from each venom gland and used for RNA-sequencing. A total of 31 venom-specific genes were identified in both venom gland transcriptomes but their expression profiles were different between V. crabro and V. analis. Venom allergen 5, premastoparan A and phospholipase A were the top three genes that were most prevalently transcribed in the venom gland of V. crabro, and their transcription rates were 902-, 112- and 4164-fold higher compared with V. analis, respectively, as judged by FPKM values. Their differential transcription profiles were confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR. In the venom gland of V. analis, however, premastoparan A was most abundantly transcribed gene, followed by calponin and tropomysin. In general, most venom-specific genes were more abundantly expressed in V. crabro but some genes exhibited higher transcription rates in V. analis, including muscle LIM protein, troponin, paramyosin, calponin, etc. Our findings suggest that V. crabro produce venom with much more enriched venom components, thereby with higher toxicity compared with V. analis.

Background : Narcissus tazetta (N. tazetta), belonging to the Amaryllidaceae family, is a bulbous plant distributed in Korea, China, and Japan. Amaryllidaceae family plants contained galantamine exhibiting dominant and selective acetylcholinesterase inhibition. In this study, transcriptome analysis of N. tazetta was carried out. Methods and Results : The results of studies conducted in duplicate revealed the presence of a total of 305,228 and 370,567 unigenes, acquired from 69,605,788 and 59,770,506 raw reads, respectively, after trimming the raw reads using CutAdapt, assembly using Trinity package, and clustering using CD-Hit-EST. The resulting unigenes were annotated based on the NCBI Non-redundant protein database, as N. tazetta is genetically closer to Phoenix dactylifera and Elaeis guineensis. The unigenes of N. tazetta were clustered into three major categories: biological processes, cellular components, and molecular functions, with 51 functional sections. A large number of unigenes (11,371 and 15,535 from replicates 1 and 2, respectively) were categorized in the biological process cluster, followed by the cellular component cluster, and the molecular function cluster. With respect to the biological process category, the unigenes were assigned to 23 functional sections. The majority of unigenes were involved in cellular processes. Among the unigenes clustered as the cellular component with 14 sections, most genes were associated with the cell and cell parts. Furthermore, 156,584 and 201,353 unigenes, respectively, matched the molecular function cluster with 14 sections, of which most unigenes were related to metabolic process and cellular process. Conclusion : This study provides functional information of N. tazetta and highlights the use of the Illumina platform for transcriptome research.