Evaluation of the toxicity of fungicides to flight muscle mitochondria of bumblebee (Bombus terrestris L.).

Insects pollinate 75% of crops used for human consumption. Over the last decade, a substantial reduction in the abundance of pollinating insects has been recorded and recognized as a severe matter for food supply security. Many of the important food crops destined for human consumption are grown in greenhouses. A unique feature of greenhouse agriculture is the extensive use of fungicides to curb multiple fungal infections. The most widely used pollinating insects in greenhouses are commercially reared bumblebees. However, there is no data regarding the toxicity of fungicides to bumblebee mitochondria. To fill this gap in knowledge, we examined the effects of 16 widely used fungicides on the energetics of the flight muscles mitochondria of Bombus terrestris. We found that diniconazole and fludioxonil uncoupled the respiration of mitochondria; dithianon and difenoconazole inhibited it. By analyzing the action of these inhibitors on mitochondrial respiration and generation of reactive oxygen species, we concluded that difenoconazole inhibited electron transport at the level of Complex I and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Dithianon strongly inhibited succinate dehydrogenase and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. It also strongly inhibited mitochondrial oxidation of NAD-linked substrates or glycerol 3-phosphate, but it had no effect on the enzymatic activity of Complex I. It may be suggested that dithianon inhibits electron transport downstream of Complex I, likely at multiply sites.

High-Throughput 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing of Butter Microbiota Reveals a Variety of Opportunistic Pathogens.

Microbial contamination of dairy products with a high fat content (e.g., butter) has been studied insufficiently. No studies using modern molecular methods to investigate microbial communities in butter have been conducted so far. In this work, we used high-throughput sequencing and Sanger sequencing of individual bacterial colonies to analyze microbial content of commercially available butter brands. A total of 21 samples of commercially available butter brands were analyzed. We identified a total of 94 amplicon sequence variants corresponding to different microbial taxa. The most abundant lactic acid bacteria in butter were Lactobacillus kefiri, Lactobacillus parakefiri, Lactococcus taiwanensis and Lactococcus raffinolactis. A large amount of Streptococcus spp. bacteria (87.9% of all identified bacteria) was found in one of the butter samples. Opportunistic pathogens such as Bacillus cereus group, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Cronobacter spp., Escherichia coli, Listeria innocua, Citrobacter spp., Enterococcus spp., Klebsiella pneumonia were detected. The analyzed butter samples were most strongly contaminated with bacteria from the Bacillus cereus group, and to a lesser extent - with Cronobacter spp. and Enterococcus spp. The plating and Sanger sequencing of individual colonies revealed the presence of Enterobacter cloacae and Staphylococcus epidermidis. The Sanger sequencing also showed the presence of Cronobacter sakazakii in butter which can be dangerous for children under the age of 1 year. We demonstrated that butter is a good growth medium for opportunistic pathogenic bacteria. Our data indicate that despite the fact that butter is a dairy product with a long shelf life, it should be subjected to quality control for the presence of opportunistic bacteria.

Effect of long-term methylene blue treatment on the composition of mouse gut microbiome and its relationship with the cognitive abilities of mice.

In recent years, methylene blue (MB) has attracted considerable interest as a potential drug for the treatment of methemoglobinemia and neurodegenerative diseases. MB is active against microorganisms from various taxonomic groups. However, no studies have yet been conducted on the effect of MB on the intestinal microbiome of model animals. The aim of this work was to study the effect of different concentrations of MB on the mouse gut microbiome and its relationship with the cognitive abilities of mice. We showed that a low MB concentration (15 mg/kg/day) did not cause significant changes in the microbiome composition. The Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes ratio decreased relative to the control on the 2nd and 3rd weeks. A slight decrease in the levels Actinobacteria was detected on the 3rd week of the experiment. Changes in the content of Delta, Gamma, and Epsilonproteobacteria have been also observed. We did not find significant alterations in the composition of intestinal microbiome, which could be an indication of the development of dysbiosis or other gut dysfunction. At the same time, a high concentration of MB (50 mg/kg/day) led to pronounced changes, primarily an increase in the levels of Delta, Gamma and Epsilonproteobacteria. Over 4 weeks of therapy, the treatment with high MB concentration has led to an increase in the median content of Proteobacteria to 7.49% vs. 1.61% in the control group. Finally, we found that MB at a concentration of 15 mg/kg/day improved the cognitive abilities of mice, while negative correlation between the content of Deferribacteres and cognitive parameters was revealed. Our data expand the understanding of the relationship between MB, cognitive abilities, and gut microbiome in respect to the antibacterial properties of MB.

A Molecular Method for the Identification of Honey Bee Subspecies Used by Beekeepers in Russia.

Apis mellifera L. includes several recognized subspecies that differ in their biological properties and agricultural characteristics. Distinguishing between honey bee subspecies is complicated. We analyzed the Folmer region of the COX1 gene in honey bee subspecies cultivated at bee farms in Russia and identified subspecies-specific SNPs. DNA analysis revealed two clearly distinct haplogroups in A. melliferamellifera. The first one was characterized by multiple cytosine-thymine (thymine-cytosine) transitions, one adenine-guanine substitution, and one thymine-adenine substitution. The nucleotide sequence of the second haplogroup coincided with sequences from other subspecies, except the unique C/A SNP at position 421 of the 658-bp Folmer region. A. melliferacarnica and A. melliferacarpatica could be distinguished from A. melliferamellifera and A. melliferacaucasica by the presence of the A/G SNP at position 99 of the 658-bp Folmer region. The G/A SNP at position 448 was typical for A. melliferacarnica. A. melliferacaucasicaCOX1 sequence lacked all the above-mentioned sites. We developed a procedure for rapid identification of honey bee subspecies by PCR with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) using mutagenic primers. The developed molecular method for honey bee subspecies identification is fast and inexpensive.

DNA barcoding and morphological analysis for rapid identification of most economically important crop-infesting Sunn pests belonging to Eurygaster Laporte, 1833 (Hemiptera, Scutelleridae).

The genus Eurygaster Laporte, 1833 includes ten species five of which inhabit the European part of Russia. The harmful species of the genus is E. integriceps. Eurygaster species identification based on the morphological traits is very difficult, while that of the species at the egg or larval stages is extremely difficult or impossible. Eurygaster integriceps, E. maura, and E. testudinaria differ only slightly between each other morphologically, E. maura and E. testudinaria being almost indiscernible. DNA barcoding based on COI sequences have shown that E. integriceps differs significantly from these closely related species, which enables its rapid and accurate identification. Based on COI nucleotide sequences, three species of Sunn pests, E. maura, E. testudinarius, E. dilaticollis, could not be differentiated from each other through DNA barcoding. The difference in the DNA sequences between the COI gene of E. integriceps and COI genes of E. maura and E. testudinarius was more than 4%. In the present study DNA barcoding of two Eurygaster species was performed for the first time on E. integriceps, the most dangerous pest in the genus, and E. dilaticollis that only inhabits natural ecosystems. The PCR-RFLP method was developed in this work for the rapid identification of E. integriceps.