Developmental and adult expression of semaphorin 2a in the cricketGryllus bimaculatus

Genomic diversity of the African malaria vector Anopheles funestus

Anopheles funestus s.s. is a formidable human malaria vector across sub-Saharan Africa. To understand how the species is evolving, especially in response to malaria vector control, we sequenced 656 modern specimens (collected 2014-2018) and 45 historic specimens (collected 1927-1967) from 16 African countries. We find high levels of genetic variation with clear and stable continental patterns. Six segregating inversions might be involved in adaptation of local ecotypes. Strong recent signals of selection centred on canonical insecticide resistance genes are shared by multiple populations. A promising gene drive target in An. gambiae is highly conserved in An. funestus. This work represents a significant advance in our understanding of the genetic diversity and population structure of An. funestus and will enable smarter targeted malaria control.

Characterization of plexinA and two distinct semaphorin1a transcripts in the developing and adult cricket Gryllus bimaculatus

Guidance cues act during development to guide growth cones to their proper targets in both the central and peripheral nervous systems. Experiments in many species indicate that guidance molecules also play important roles after development, though less is understood about their functions in the adult. The Semaphorin family of guidance cues, signaling through Plexin receptors, influences the development of both axons and dendrites in invertebrates. Semaphorin functions have been extensively explored in Drosophila melanogaster and some other Dipteran species, but little is known about their function in hemimetabolous insects. Here, we characterize sema1a and plexA in the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus. In fact, we found two distinct predicted Sema1a proteins in this species, Sema1a.1 and Sema1a.2, which shared only 48% identity at the amino acid level. We include a phylogenetic analysis that predicted that many other insect species, both holometabolous and hemimetabolous, express two Sema1a proteins as well. Finally, we used in situ hybridization to show that sema1a.1 and sema1a.2 expression patterns were spatially distinct in the embryo, and both roughly overlap with plexA. All three transcripts were also expressed in the adult brain, mainly in the mushroom bodies, though sema1a.2 was expressed most robustly. sema1a.2 was also expressed strongly in the adult thoracic ganglia while sema1a.1 was only weakly expressed and plexA was undetectable.

De novo assembly of a transcriptome for the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus prothoracic ganglion: An invertebrate model for investigating adult central nervous system compensatory plasticity

The auditory system of the cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus, demonstrates an unusual amount of anatomical plasticity in response to injury, even in adults. Unilateral removal of the ear causes deafferented auditory neurons in the prothoracic ganglion to sprout dendrites across the midline, a boundary they typically respect, and become synaptically connected to the auditory afferents of the contralateral ear. The molecular basis of this sprouting and novel synaptogenesis in the adult is not understood. We hypothesize that well-conserved developmental guidance cues may recapitulate their guidance functions in the adult in order to facilitate this compensatory growth. As a first step in testing this hypothesis, we have generated a de novo assembly of a prothoracic ganglion transcriptome derived from control and deafferented adult individuals. We have mined this transcriptome for orthologues of guidance molecules from four well-conserved signaling families: Slit, Netrin, Ephrin, and Semaphorin. Here we report that transcripts encoding putative orthologues of most of the candidate developmental ligands and receptors from these signaling families were present in the assembly, indicating expression in the adult G. bimaculatus prothoracic ganglion.

Quantification of dendritic and axonal growth after injury to the auditory system of the adult cricket Gryllus bimaculatus

Dendrite and axon growth and branching during development are regulated by a complex set of intracellular and external signals. However, the cues that maintain or influence adult neuronal morphology are less well understood. Injury and deafferentation tend to have negative effects on adult nervous systems. An interesting example of injury-induced compensatory growth is seen in the cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus. After unilateral loss of an ear in the adult cricket, auditory neurons within the central nervous system (CNS) sprout to compensate for the injury. Specifically, after being deafferented, ascending neurons (AN-1 and AN-2) send dendrites across the midline of the prothoracic ganglion where they receive input from auditory afferents that project through the contralateral auditory nerve (N5). Deafferentation also triggers contralateral N5 axonal growth. In this study, we quantified AN dendritic and N5 axonal growth at 30 h, as well as at 3, 5, 7, 14, and 20 days after deafferentation in adult crickets. Significant differences in the rates of dendritic growth between males and females were noted. In females, dendritic growth rates were non-linear; a rapid burst of dendritic extension in the first few days was followed by a plateau reached at 3 days after deafferentation. In males, however, dendritic growth rates were linear, with dendrites growing steadily over time and reaching lengths, on average, twice as long as in females. On the other hand, rates of N5 axonal growth showed no significant sexual dimorphism and were linear. Within each animal, the growth rates of dendrites and axons were not correlated, indicating that independent factors likely influence dendritic and axonal growth in response to injury in this system. Our findings provide a basis for future study of the cellular features that allow differing dendrite and axon growth patterns as well as sexually dimorphic dendritic growth in response to deafferentation.

Early embryonic development of the head region of Gryllus assimilis Fabricius, 1775 (Orthoptera, Insecta)

We report our investigations on the embryonic development of Gryllus assimilis, with particular attention to the head. Significant findings revealed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images include: (1) the pre-antennal lobes represent the anterior-most segment that does not bear any appendages; (2) each of the lobes consists of central and marginal regions; (3) the central region thereof develops into the protocerebrum and the optic lobes, whereas the marginal region thereof becomes the anterior portion of the head capsule; (4) the initial position of the antennal segment is posterior to the mouth region; (5) appendage anlagen are transitorily present in the intercalary segment, and they later vanish together with the segment itself; (6) a bulged sternum appears to develop from the ventral surface of the mandibular, maxillary and labial segments. Embryonic features are then compared across the Insecta and further extended to the embryos of a spider (Araneae, Chelicerata). Striking similarities shared by the anterior-most region of the insect and spider embryos lead the authors to conclude that such comparison should be further undertaken to cover the entire Euarthropoda. This will help us to understand the embryology and evolution of the arthropod head.