Complete mitochondrial genome of the longicorn Anoplophora horsfieldi Hope (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).

The chinaberry yellow-banded longhorn beetle, Anoplophora horsfieldi Hope 1842 (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) is an important pest on many economic tree species. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of A. horsfieldi was determined, which was 15,837 bp in length and contained 37 genes, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two rRNA, 22 tRNA genes, and a non-coding A + T-rich region. The phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial genomes showed that A. horsfieldi is sister to a clade formed by A. chinensis and A. glabripennis.

Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation may be an early predictor of delayed motor development due to neonatal hyperbilirubinemia: a fMRI study.

BACKGROUND: Acute bilirubin encephalopathy or kernicterus is the worst consequence of brain damage caused by the elevation of total unbound serum bilirubin (TSB) in neonates. The present study aimed to visualize the characteristic brain regions of neonates with hyperbilirubinemia (HB) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and to measure the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) values. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study, which included newborns with HB who were hospitalized at the Children's Hospital of Fudan University. The control group included neonates admitted with neonatal simple wet lung or pneumonia without neurological disease or brain injury. Newborns were divided into a severe hyperbilirubinemia group (SHB), moderate HB group, and control group based on TSB levels. The newborns completed routine MRI combined with fMRI scans and brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) during their hospitalization. RESULTS: A total of 251 newborns were included in this study. There were 45 patients in the SHB group, 65 in the HB group, and 141 in the control group. The average ALFF value in the basal ganglia region in the SHB group was the highest, which was greater than that in the HB and control groups (P<0.001). The ALFF increased with an increase in TSB concentration. Based on the results of the Bayley Scales of infant development assessment, we further found that the most significant difference in ALFF remained in the basal ganglia region between newborns with motor development scores above 70 (including 70) and below 70. Correlation analysis revealed a strong negative correlation between motor development scores and ALFF (r=-0.691, P<0.001). When ALFF alone was used to predict motor development, the sensitivity was 89%. When ALFF was combined with TSB and BEAP results, the area under the ROC curve was the largest (AUC =0.85). The sensitivity and specificity of the model were 67.86% and 90.77%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The ALFF value may be able to serve as an early imaging biomarker and has a greater sensitivity than TSB or BAEP results in predicting long-term motor development (18 m) in HB.

Effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on neuroimaging and neurobehavior in neonates.

BACKGROUND: We collected neonatal neurological, clinical, and imaging data to study the neurological manifestations and imaging characteristics of neonates with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). METHODS: This case-control study included newborns diagnosed with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China from January 2020 to July 2020. All included newborns had complete neurological evaluations and head magnetic resonance imaging. We normalized the extracted T2-weighted imaging data to a standard neonate template space, and segmented them into gray matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid. The comparison of gray matter volume was conducted between the two groups. RESULTS: A total of five neonates with COVID-19 were included in this study. The median reflex scores were 2 points lower in the infected group than in the control group (P = 0.0094), and the median orientation and behavior scores were 2.5 points lower in the infected group than in the control group (P = 0.0008). There were also significant differences between the two groups in the total scale score (P = 0.0426). The caudate nucleus, parahippocampal gyrus, and thalamus had the strongest correlations with the Hammersmith neonatal neurologic examination (HNNE) score, and the absolute correlation coefficients between the gray matter volumes and each part of the HNNE score were all almost greater than 0.5. CONCLUSIONS: We first compared the neurological performance of neonates with and without COVID-19 by quantitative neuroimaging and neurological examination methods. Considering the limited numbers of patients, more studies focusing on the structural or functional aspects of the virus in the central nervous system in different age groups will be carried out in the future.

Complete mitochondrial genome of the olive weevil, Dyscerus cribripennis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).

The olive weevil Dyscerus cribripennis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is an uncontrollable noxious insect to Olea europaea. The 15,977 bp complete mitochondrial genome of D. cribripennis contained 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs), 21 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs), and a control region (GenBank accession number MW023069). The trnI was not found in the D. cribripennis mitogenome. The phylogenetic analysis based on mitogenomes showed that D. cribripennis is closed related with Hylobitelus xiaoi.

Identification of a binding site for ASF/SF2 on an RNA fragment derived from the hepatitis delta virus genome.

The hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is a small (~1700 nucleotides) RNA pathogen which encodes only one open reading frame. Consequently, HDV is dependent on host proteins to replicate its RNA genome. Recently, we reported that ASF/SF2 binds directly and specifically to an HDV-derived RNA fragment which has RNA polymerase II promoter activity. Here, we localized the binding site of ASF/SF2 on the HDV RNA fragment by performing binding experiments using purified recombinant ASF/SF2 combined with deletion analysis and site-directed mutagenesis. In addition, we investigated the requirement of ASF/SF2 for HDV RNA replication using RNAi-mediated knock-down of ASF/SF2 in 293 cells replicating HDV RNA. Overall, our results indicate that ASF/SF2 binds to a purine-rich region distant from both the previously published initiation site of HDV mRNA transcription and binding site of RNAP II, and suggest that this protein is not involved in HDV replication in the cellular system used.