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1. Effect of Shell Cover Color on Solar Absorptance and Environmental Heating of Cricket Helmets: A Pilot Study

   https://doi.org/10.54026/JmmS/1090  

   F_Rowe, Michael (August 2024, Journal of mineral and material science)

   The objective of this pilot study was to quantify and describe the effect of shell cover color on solar absorptance, a1 (%; mean ± SD) and the temperature of the cricket helmet shell covers, Thsc (°C; mean ± SD) during exposure to a hot outdoor environment (WBGT 32.5 ± 1.9 °C; ACSM Heat Index Black; Extreme Danger STOP). We measured and recorded a1 in yellow, red and black cricket helmets using a micro-solarimeter. Thermographic imaging was used to quantify differential Thsc . Variations in shell cover color had a statistically significant (p<0.0002) 2-fold effect on a1 . At the end of 30-minute trials, variations in color and a1 resulted in 3.6 to 6.0 °C difference in Thsc between helmets. Although speculative, the color of cricket helmet shell covers may have a functionally significant effect of exertional heat illnesses, EHIs (ranging from dehydration to heat stroke). Incorporating reflective nanocomposites particles into the material used in the construction of the Lycra® shell covers and XENOY™ shells may facilitate passive cooling of cricket helmets and ultimately reduce EHIs. 

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2. Behavioral responses of a parasitoid fly to rapidly evolving host signals

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9193  

   Broder, E. Dale; Gallagher, James H.; Wikle, Aaron W.; Venable, Cameron P.; Zonana, David M.; Ingley, Spencer J.; Smith, Tanner C.; Tinghitella, Robin M. (August 2022, Ecology and Evolution)

   Abstract Animals eavesdrop on signals and cues generated by prey, predators, hosts, parasites, competing species, and conspecifics, and the conspicuousness of sexual signals makes them particularly susceptible. Yet, when sexual signals evolve, most attention is paid to impacts on intended receivers (potential mates) rather than fitness consequences for eavesdroppers. Using the rapidly evolving interaction between the Pacific field cricket,Teleogryllus oceanicus, and the parasitoid fly,Ormia ochracea, we asked how parasitoids initially respond to novel changes in host signals. We recently discovered a novel sexual signal, purring song, in Hawaiian populations ofT. oceanicusthat appears to have evolved because it protects the cricket from the parasitoid while still allowing males to attract female crickets for mating. In Hawaii, there are no known alternative hosts for the parasitoid, so we would expect flies to be under selection to detect and attend to the new purring song. We used complementary field and laboratory phonotaxis experiments to test fly responses to purring songs that varied in many dimensions, as well as to ancestral song. We found that flies strongly prefer ancestral song over purring songs in both the field and the lab, but we caught more flies to purring songs in the field than reported in previous work, indicating that flies may be exerting some selective pressure on the novel song. When played at realistic amplitudes, we found no preferences–flies responded equally to all purrs that varied in frequency, broadbandedness, and temporal measures. However, our lab experiment did reveal the first evidence of preference for purring song amplitude, as flies were more attracted to purrs played at amplitudes greater than naturally occurring purring songs. As purring becomes more common throughout Hawaii, flies that can use purring song to locate hosts should be favored by selection and increase in frequency. 

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3. The common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum, maintains silk gene expression on sub-optimal diet

   https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237286  

   Miller, Jeremy; Vienneau-Hathaway, Jannelle; Dendev, Enkhbileg; Lan, Merrina; Ayoub, Nadia A. (December 2020, PLOS ONE)

   Signore, Giovanni (Ed.)

   Cobweb weaving spiders and their relatives spin multiple task-specific fiber types. The unique material properties of each silk type result from differences in amino acid sequence and structure of their component proteins, primarily spidroins (spider fibrous proteins). Amino acid content and gene expression measurements of spider silks suggest some spiders change expression patterns of individual protein components in response to environmental cues. We quantified mRNA abundance of three spidroin encoding genes involved in prey capture in the common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum (Theridiidae), fed different diets. After 10 days of acclimation to the lab on a diet of mealworms, spiders were split into three groups: (1) individuals were immediately dissected, (2) spiders were fed high-energy crickets, or (3) spiders were fed low-energy flies, for 1 month. All spiders gained mass during the acclimation period and cricket-fed spiders continued to gain mass, while fly-fed spiders either maintained or lost mass. Using quantitative PCR, we found no significant differences in the absolute or relative abundance of dragline gene transcripts, major ampullate spidroin 1 ( MaSp1 ) and major ampullate spidroin 2 ( MaSp2 ), among groups. In contrast, prey-wrapping minor ampullate spidroin ( MiSp) gene transcripts were significantly less abundant in fly-fed than lab-acclimated spiders. However, when measured relative to Actin , cricket-fed spiders showed the lowest expression of MiSp . Our results suggest that house spiders are able to maintain silk production, even in the face of a low-quality diet. 

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4. Controlling taxa abundance improves metatranscriptomics differential analysis

   https://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-023-02799-9  

   Ji, Zhicheng; Ma, Li (March 2023, BMC Microbiology)

   Abstract BackgroundA common task in analyzing metatranscriptomics data is to identify microbial metabolic pathways with differential RNA abundances across multiple sample groups. With information from paired metagenomics data, some differential methods control for either DNA or taxa abundances to address their strong correlation with RNA abundance. However, it remains unknown if both factors need to be controlled for simultaneously. ResultsWe discovered that when either DNA or taxa abundance is controlled for, RNA abundance still has a strong partial correlation with the other factor. In both simulation studies and a real data analysis, we demonstrated that controlling for both DNA and taxa abundances leads to superior performance compared to only controlling for one factor. ConclusionsTo fully address the confounding effects in analyzing metatranscriptomics data, both DNA and taxa abundances need to be controlled for in the differential analysis. 

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5. Proximal Molecular Probe Transfer (PROMPT), a new approach for identifying sites of protein/nucleic acid interaction in cells by correlated light and electron microscopy

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-45413-8  

   Castillon, Guillaume A; Phan, Sebastien; Hu, Junru; Boassa, Daniela; Adams, Stephen R; Ellisman, Mark H (December 2023, Scientific Reports)

   Abstract The binding and interaction of proteins with nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA constitutes a fundamental biochemical and biophysical process in all living organisms. Identifying and visualizing such temporal interactions in cells is key to understanding their function. To image sites of these events in cells across scales, we developed a method, named PROMPT for PROximal Molecular Probe Transfer, which is applicable to both light and correlative electron microscopy. This method relies on the transfer of a bound photosensitizer from a protein known to associate with specific nucleic acid sequence, allowing the marking of the binding site on DNA or RNA in fixed cells. The method produces a fluorescent mark at the site of their interaction, that can be made electron dense and reimaged at high resolution in the electron microscope. As proof of principle, we labeled in situ the interaction sites between the histone H2B and nuclear DNA. As an example of application for specific RNA localizations we labeled different nuclear and nucleolar fractions of the protein Fibrillarin to mark and locate where it associates with RNAs, also using electron tomography. While the current PROMPT method is designed for microscopy, with minimal variations, it can be potentially expanded to analytical techniques. 

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