Biology subjects

Hinton, J. A.

Publications and source records attributed to Hinton, J. A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Differential Gene Expression in the Tropical House Cricket and Its Iridovirus in Healthy versus Diseased Specimens

The tropical house cricket, Gryllodes sigillatus, is a mass-produced insect that is used as a protein source for pets and livestock. However, intensive mass-rearing conditions, coupled with high genetic relatedness, create an ideal environment for the spread of pathogenic microbes that severely impact production. Cricket iridovirus (CrIV) is a pathogen that impedes cricket growth and causes significant losses for cricket farmers. Interestingly, recent studies have shown that CrIV is often present asymptomatically, yet the molecular basis of the emergence of disease symptoms remains unknown. To address this, we sampled healthy and diseased crickets and examined differences in cricket and CrIV gene expression via RNAseq. Using differential gene expression analysis and functional enrichment analysis, we found significant differences in host and viral gene expression between healthy and diseased crickets, including genes involved in immunity. Interestingly, while we observed high CrIV gene expression across the entire CrIV genome in sick populations, healthy asymptomatic populations showed elevated expression at a single viral locus. Our results shed light not only on the cricket immune response to CrIV infection but also identify a viral gene that is highly expressed during covert infections, suggesting its potential role in suppressing the hosts immune response. These findings enhance our understanding of how CrIV interacts with our cricket host, providing essential insights for developing targeted strategies to manage CrIV outbreaks in cricket mass-rearing facilities.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2025

A Deep Dive into the Globin Superfamily of Sharks, Skates, and Rays: Contrasting patterns of gene loss and retention relative to bony vertebrates

The globin gene superfamily encodes oxygen-binding proteins that are present in all domains of life. Hemoglobins and myoglobins of jawed vertebrates are among the most well-studied proteins in the context of structure-function relationships and evolution after gene duplication. However, these studies have primarily focused on bony vertebrates, and research on globin gene evolution in cartilaginous fish has been limited by a lack of genomic resources. In this study, we leverage newly available cartilaginous fish genomes to investigate globin gene family evolution across skates, rays, sharks, and sawfish. We found that, when present, most globin genes are in a single copy, with androglobin, globin-Y, and myoglobin present in all cartilaginous fish, while the two globin-X genes were differentially retained between the Holocephali and sharks, skates, and rays. Neuroglobin appears to have been lost at the common ancestor of all cartilaginous fish. The - and {beta}-globin gene subfamilies underwent independent expansions in different lineages of cartilaginous fish. Most cartilaginous fish globins have conserved synteny with other jawed vertebrates except myoglobin. Additionally, NPRL3, which directly flanks the hemoglobin clusters of other jawed and jawless vertebrates and regulates hemoglobin gene expression, is on a separate chromosome from the hemoglobin clusters of cartilaginous fish. When we examined globin gene expression patterns across cartilaginous fish tissues and developmental stages, we found that most globins are expressed as expected compared to other jawed vertebrates. However, hemoglobin paralogs are more widely expressed in embryonic tissues compared to later-stage tissues in cases where many copies exist. Our results reveal similar and contrasting patterns of globin gene evolution between cartilaginous and bony vertebrates and shed light on the early stages of globin gene evolution in gnathostomes. Significance StatementThe evolution of the globin gene family in jawed vertebrates is of significant interest; however, most studies have been limited to bony vertebrates. With the influx of new publicly available cartilaginous fish genomes, we conducted the most comprehensive analysis of globin gene evolution in cartilaginous fish to date using phylogenetic, structural, and transcriptomic analyses. Our results shed light on similar and contrasting patterns of globin-gene evolution between cartilaginous and bony vertebrates and provide insight into the early evolution of globins in jawed vertebrates. Key-words: Globins, Cartilaginous Fish, Chondrichthyes, Gene Family Evolution

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Under the radar: differential responses of bed bugs to an entomopathogen, environmental bacteria, and a human pathogen

BackgroundBed bugs (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) are a widely distributed, obligately blood-feeding insect, but they have never been linked to pathogen transmission in humans. Most other hematophagous insects that frequently bite humans transmit pathogens, and it is unclear why bed bugs do not. One hypothesis is that bed bugs have evolved a highly robust immune system because their mating system, traumatic insemination, exposes females to consistent wounding and bacterial infections. Although this has been proposed, very little is known about the bed bug immune system and how bed bugs respond to microbial challenges. Understanding the bed bug immune system could give insight to why bed bugs are not known to transmit disease and under what circumstances they could, while also facilitating biological control efforts involving microbes. MethodsTo investigate the immune response of bed bugs to bacterial challenges, we exposed female bed bugs to three bacterial challenges. 1.) Pseudomonas fluorescens, an entomopathogen known to have harmful effects to bed bugs, 2.) bacteria cultured from a bed bug enclosure likely encountered during traumatic insemination, and 3.) Borrelia duttoni, a human vector-borne pathogen that causes relapsing fever. We compared the transcriptomes of infected bed bugs with uninfected bed bugs, focusing on immune-related genes. We also conducted phylogenetic analyses to understand patterns of gene duplication and function of potentially immune-related genes. ResultsWe found many known immune effector genes upregulated in response to P. fluorescens and traumatic insemination-associated bacteria, but interestingly, not in response to B. duttoni. Furthermore, we found significant overlap in the genes differentially expressed in response to P. fluorescens and the traumatic insemination associated bacteria, and between P. fluorescens and B. duttoni, but no significant overlap between traumatic insemination bacteria and B. duttoni. We also show that bed bug diptericin-like antimicrobial peptides underwent a lineage-specific gene duplication, and that they may have further functional specialization. Finally, we identify previously overlooked candidates for future study of immune function in bed bugs, including some putative cuticle-associated genes, a laccase-like gene, and a mucin-like gene. ConclusionsBy taking comprehensive transcriptomic approach, our study is an important step in understanding how bed bugs respond to diverse immune challenges.

molecular biology↗