Circadian clock regulates developmental time through ecdysone and juvenile hormones in Bombyx mori.

The circadian clock plays an integral role in hormone biosynthesis and secretion. However, how the circadian clock precisely coordinates hormonal homeostasis to maintain normal animal development remains unclear. Here, we show that knocking out the core clock gene Cryptochrome 1 (Cry1) significantly delays the developmental time in Bombyx mori. This study focuses on the ecdysone and juvenile hormone signalling pathways of fifth instar larvae with the longest developmental time delay. We found that the mutant reduced prothoracicotropic hormone synthesis in the brain, and could not produce sufficient ecdysone in the prothoracic gland, resulting in a delayed peak of 20-hydroxyecdysone titre in the hemolymph of fifth instar larvae, prolonging developmental time. Moreover, further investigation revealed that the mutant enhanced juvenile hormone biosynthesis and signalling pathway and that this higher juvenile hormone titre also resulted in prolonged developmental time in fifth instar larvae. Our results provide insights into the molecular mechanisms by which the circadian clock regulates animal development by maintaining hormonal homeostasis.

Multi-omics integrative analysis revealed characteristic changes in blood cell immunity and amino acid metabolism in a silkworm model of hyperproteinemia.

Hyperproteinemia is a serious metabolic disease of both humans and animals characterized by an abnormally high plasma protein concentration (HPPC). Although hyperproteinemia can cause an imbalance in blood cell homeostasis, the functional changes to blood cells remain unclear. Here, a HPPC silkworm model was used to assess changes to the chromatin accessibility and transcript levels of genes related to blood cell metabolism and immune function. The results showed that HPPC enhanced phagocytosis of blood cells, increased chromatin accessibility and transcript levels of genes involved in cell phagocytosis, proliferation, stress, and programmed death, while genes associated with aromatic amino acid metabolism, and antibacterial peptide synthesis were inhibited in blood cells. Further analysis of the chromatin accessibility of the promoter region found that the high chromatin accessibility of genes sensitive to HPPC, was related to histone modifications, including tri-methylation of lysine residue 4 of histone H3 and acetylation of lysine residue 27 of histone H3. Changes to the chromatin accessibility and transcript levels of genes related to immune function and amino acid metabolism in the blood cells of the HPPC silkworm model provided useful references for future studies of the mechanisms underlying epigenomic regulation mediated by hyperproteinemia.

The circadian clock affects starvation resistance through the pentose phosphate pathway in silkworm, Bombyx mori.

Disruption of the circadian clock can affect starvation resistance, but the molecular mechanism is still unclear. Here, we found that starvation resistance was significantly reduced in the core gene BmPer deficient mutant silkworms (Per-/-), but the mutant's starvation resistance increased with larval age. Under natural physiological conditions, the weight of mutant 5th instar larvae was significantly increased compared to wild type, and the accumulation ability of triglycerides and glycogen in the fat bodies was upregulated. However, under starvation conditions, the weight consumption of mutant larvae was increased and cholesterol utilization was intensified. Transcriptome analysis showed that beta-oxidation was significantly upregulated under starvation conditions, fatty acid synthesis was inhibited, and the expression levels of genes related to mitochondrial function were significantly changed. Further investigations revealed that the redox balance, which is closely related to mitochondrial metabolism, was altered in the fat bodies, the antioxidant level was increased, and the pentose phosphate pathway, the source of reducing power in cells, was activated. Our findings suggest that one of the reasons for the increased energy burden observed in mutants is the need to maintain a more robust redox balance in metabolic tissues. This necessitates the diversion of more glucose into the pentose phosphate pathway to ensure an adequate supply of reducing power.

Controlled arrays of self-assembled peptide nanostructures in solution and at interface.

Controlling the formation of large and homogeneous arrays of bionanostructures through the self-assembly approach is still a great challenge. Here, we report the spontaneous formation of highly ordered arrays based on aligned peptide nanostructures in a solution as well as at an interface by self-assembly. By controlling the time and temperature of self-assembly in the solution, parallel fibrous alignments and more sophisticated two-dimensional "knitted" fibrous arrays could be formed from aligned rod-like fibers. During the formation of such arrays, the "disorder-to-order" transitions are controlled by the temperature-responsible motile short hydrophobic tails of the gemini-like amphiphilic peptides (GAPs) with asymmetric molecular conformation. In addition, the resulting long-range-ordered "knitted" fibrous arrays are able to direct mineralization of calcium phosphate to form organic-inorganic composite materials. In this study, the self-assembly behavior of these peptide building blocks at an interface was also studied. Highly ordered spatial arrays with vertically or horizontally aligned nanostructures such as nanofibers, microfibers, and microtubes could be formed through interfacial assembly. The regular structures and their alignments on the interface are controlled by the alkyl chain length of building blocks and the hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity property of the interface.

Temporal transcriptome reveals that circadian clock is involved in the dynamic regulation of immune response to bacterial infection in Bombyx mori.

The circadian clock plays a critical role in the regulation of host immune defense. However, the mechanistic basis for this regulation is largely unknown. Herein, the core clock gene cryptochrome1 (cry1) knockout line in Bombyx mori, an invertebrate animal model, was constructed to obtain the silkworm with dysfunctional molecular clock, and the dynamic regulation of the circadian clock on the immune responsiveness within 24 h of Staphylococcus aureus infection was analyzed. We found that deletion of cry1 decreased viability of silkworms and significantly reduced resistance of larvae to S. aureus. Time series RNA-seq analysis identified thousands of rhythmically expressed genes, including immune response genes, in the larval immune tissue, fat bodies. Uninfected cry1 knockout silkworms exhibited expression patterns of rhythmically expressed genes similar to wild-type (WT) silkworms infected with S. aureus. However, cry1 knockout silkworms exhibited a seriously weakened response to S. aureus infection. The immune response peaked at 6 and 24 h after infection, during which "transcription storms" occurred, and the expression levels of the immune response genes, PGRP and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), were significantly upregulated in WT. In contrast, cry1 knockout did not effectively activate Toll, Imd, or NF-κB signaling pathways during the immune adjustment period from 12 to 18 h after infection, resulting in failure to initiate the immune responsiveness peak at 24 h after infection. This may be related to inhibited silkworm fat body energy metabolism. These results demonstrated the dynamic regulation of circadian clock on silkworm immune response to bacterial infection and provided important insights into host antimicrobial defense mechanisms.

Ectopic expression of sericin enables efficient production of ancient silk with structural changes in silkworm.

Bombyx mori silk is a super-long natural protein fiber with a unique structure and excellent performance. Innovative silk structures with high performance are in great demand, thus resulting in an industrial bottleneck. Herein, the outer layer sericin SER3 is ectopically expressed in the posterior silk gland (PSG) in silkworms via a piggyBac-mediated transgenic approach, then secreted into the inner fibroin layer, thus generating a fiber with sericin microsomes dispersed in fibroin fibrils. The water-soluble SER3 protein secreted by PSG causes P25's detachment from the fibroin unit of the Fib-H/Fib-L/P25 polymer, and accumulation between the fibroin layer and the sericin layer. Consequently, the water solubility and stability of the fibroin-colloid in the silk glandular cavity, and the crystallinity increase, and the mechanical properties of cocoon fibers, moisture absorption and moisture liberation of the silk also improve. Meanwhile, the mutant overcomes the problems of low survival and abnormal silk gland development, thus enabling higher production efficiency of cocoon silk. In summary, we describe a silk gland transgenic target protein selection strategy to alter the silk fiber structure and to innovate its properties. This work provides an efficient and green method to produce silk fibers with new functions.

Mechanism of hyperproteinemia-induced blood cell homeostasis imbalance in an animal model.

Hyperproteinemia is a metabolic disorder associated with increased plasma protein concentration (PPC) and is often clinically complicated by malignant diseases or severe infections. At present, however, research on the molecular mechanism underlying high PPC (HPPC) is scant. Here, an animal model of primary hyperproteinemia was constructed in an invertebrate ( Bombyx mori) to investigate the effects of HPPC on circulating blood cells. Results showed that HPPC affected blood cell homeostasis, leading to increased reactive oxygen species levels, and induced programmed cell death dependent on the endoplasmic reticulum-calcium ion signaling pathway. HPPC induced the proliferation of blood cells, mainly granulocytes, by activating the Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK/STAT) signaling pathway. Supplementation with the endocrine hormone active substance 20E significantly reduced the impact of HPPC on blood cell homeostasis. Thus, we identified a novel signaling pathway by which HPPC affects blood cell homeostasis, which differs from hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and hypercholesterolemia. In addition, we showed that down-regulation of gene expression of the hematopoietic factor Gcm could be used as a potential early detection indicator for hyperproteinemia.

Circadian Clock Gene Period Contributes to Diapause via GABAeric-Diapause Hormone Pathway in Bombyx mori.

Diapause is a developmental transition in insects based on seasonal adaptation to adversity; it is regulated by a circadian clock system and the endocrine system. However, the molecular node and its mechanism underlying the effects of these systems are still unclear. Here, a mutant of Bombyx mori with the circadian clock gene Period (Per) knocked out was constructed, which dramatically changed the classic diapause-destined pathway. Per-knockout silkworms powerfully attenuated, but could not completely block, the predetermined effects of temperature and photoperiod on diapause determination, and this effect depended on the diapause hormone (DH) pathway. The impaired transcription-translation feedback loop of the circadian clock system lacking the Per gene caused direct up-regulation of the expression of GRD, a receptor of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), by changing expression level of Cycle. The synthesis of GABA in the tissue complex of brain-suboesophageal ganglion then increased and restricted the decomposition, which continuously promoted the GABAergic signal to play a role, and finally inhibiting (delaying) the release of DH to the hemolymph, and reducing the diapause-inducing effect of DH. The results provided an example to explain the regulatory mechanism of the circadian clock on endocrine hormones in the silkworm.

Influence of Hyperproteinemia on Insect Innate Immune Function of the Circulatory System in Bombyx mori.

Metabolic disorders of the circulatory system of animals (e.g., hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia) can significantly affect immune function; however, since there is currently no reliable animal model for hyperproteinemia, its effects on immunity remain unclear. In this study, we established an animal model for hyperproteinemia in an invertebrate silkworm model, with a controllable plasma protein concentration (PPC) and no primary disease effects. We evaluated the influence of hyperproteinemia on innate immunity. The results showed that high PPC enhanced hemolymph phagocytosis via inducing a rapid increase in granulocytes. Moreover, while oenocytoids increased, the plasmacytes quickly dwindled. High PPC inhibited hemolymph melanization due to decreased phenoloxidase (PO) activity in the hemolymph via inhibiting the expression of the prophenoloxidase-encoding genes, PPO1 and PPO2. High PPC upregulated the gene expression of antimicrobial peptides via differential activation of the Toll and Imd signaling pathways associated with NF-κB signaling, followed by an induction of inconsistent antibacterial activity towards Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria in an animal model of high PPC. Therefore, high PPC has multiple significant effects on the innate immune function of the silkworm circulatory system.

A modular theranostic platform for tumor therapy and its metabolic studies.

Theranostic systems are able to detect and treat diseases with only one procedure, thus greatly lessening the pain of patients. Since each patient's disease can be considered as a new clinical subtype, it is essential to develop theranostic nanomaterials with changeable functions for personal treatment. In this work, a novel modular theranostic platform was designed to control the stimuli-responsive drug release. As a patch board, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) were functionalized with a linear pH-responsive benzimidazole (Bz)-polyethylene glycol (PEG) chain containing a redox-responsive ferrocene (Fc) oxide stopper at the end. As the plug, the ß-CD ring was initially located at the Bz position. In an acidic tumor microenvironment, the pH sensitive Bz was protonated and the complex formation constant between Bz and ß-CD decreased. At the same time, the complex formation constant between Fc and ß-CD increased remarkably. As a result, the ß-CD ring would depart from the nanoparticle surface to the Fc position at pH 6.2 & 10 mM GSH, physically causing an "And" logic gate type drug release. Herein, a "plug and play" method was used to achieve changeable functions with only one platform. By plugging modified ß-CD into the patch board, theranostic systems with changeable functions can be achieved easily.

Dual Drug Delivery System Based on Biodegradable Organosilica Core-Shell Architectures.

To overcome drug resistance, efficient cancer therapeutic strategies using a combination of small-molecule drugs and macromolecule drugs is highly desired. However, because of their significant differences in molecular weight and size, it is difficult to load them simultaneously in one vector and to release them individually. Here, a biodegradable organosilica-based core-shell-structured nanocapsule was designed and used as a dual stimuli-responsive drug vector to solve this problem. Biodegradable organosilica shell coated outside the macromolecule model drug "core" would be disrupted by high glutathione (GSH) levels inside tumor cells, resulting in the escape of the entrapped drugs. Small-molecule drugs capping on the surface of the organosilica shell via pH-responsive imine bonds can be cut and released in the acidic lysosomal environment. Transmission electron microscopy has shown that the framework of the organosilica shell was dissolved and degraded after 8 h incubation with 5 mM GSH. Confocal imaging confirmed that small-molecule and macromolecular drugs were individually released from the nanoparticles because of the pH or redox-triggered degradation under the tumor microenvironment and thus led to the strong fluorescence recovery in the cytoplasm. As expected, these biodegradable organosilica nanoparticles could not release drugs into normal cells but could specifically release them into tumor cells owing to their tumor-triggered targeting capability. This system will serve as an efficient shuttle for multidrug delivery and also provide a potential strategy to overcome drug resistance.

A redox-responsive mesoporous silica based nanoplatform for in vitro tumor-specific fluorescence imaging and enhanced photodynamic therapy.

In order to obtain an optimal therapeutic effect with minimal systemic toxicity, a redox-responsive mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN)-based platform modified with protoporphyrin IX (PpIX)-multifunctional peptides was synthesized as an intelligent theranostic agent carrier. This redox-responsive nanoplatform could release the theranostic agent under a glutathione stimulus, produce fluorescence recovery for tumor-specific fluorescence imaging and provide tumor-enhanced photodynamic therapy.

Viscosity enhanced release (VER) effect in nanoporous drug delivery systems: phenomenon and mechanism.

High viscosity is important for normal intracellular homeostasis. In this study, nanoporous drug delivery systems (DDSs), including mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) and layer by layer (LBL) microcapsules, with a viscosity enhanced release (VER) effect were designed and prepared, and their drug release behaviors in a sticky environment with a high viscosity were investigated using rhodamine B, methylene blue and doxorubicin (DOX) as model drugs. The results showed that the drug release rate from DDSs in a biomimetic high viscosity solution was 7 to 8 times higher than that in water. A semipermeable membrane model was used to explain the VER effect. The results indicate that the existence of macromolecules in the release medium caused a VER effect. The VER effect found in this study will provide a new concept to guide the design of DDSs in a high viscosity environment in vivo.