Biology subjects

Wang, Z. Y.

Publications and source records attributed to Wang, Z. Y..

6 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Signaling ligand heterogeneities in the peduncle complex of the cephalopod mollusc Octopus bimaculoides

The octopus peduncle complex is an agglomeration of neural structures with remarkably diverse functional roles. The complex rests on the optic tract, between the optic lobe and the central brain, and comprises the peduncle lobe proper, the olfactory lobe, and the optic gland. The peduncle lobe regulates visuomotor behaviors, the optic glands control sexual maturation and maternal death, and the olfactory lobe is thought to receive input from the olfactory organ. Recent transcriptomic and metabolomic studies have identified candidate peptide and steroid ligands in the Octopus bimaculoides optic gland. With gene expression for these ligands and their biosynthetic enzymes, we show that optic gland neurochemistry extends beyond the traditional optic gland secretory tissue and into lobular territories. A key finding is that the classically defined olfactory lobe is itself a heterogenous territory and includes steroidogenic territories that overlap with cells expressing molluscan neuropeptides and the synthetic enzyme dopamine beta-hydroxylase.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Isolation disrupts social interactions and destabilizes brain development in bumblebees

Social isolation, particularly in early life, leads to deleterious physiological and behavioral outcomes. Few studies, if any, have been able to capture the behavioral and neurogenomic consequences of early life social isolation together in a single social animal system. Here, we leverage new high-throughput tools to comprehensively investigate the impact of isolation in the bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) from behavioral, molecular, and neuroanatomical perspectives. We reared newly emerged bumblebees either in complete isolation, small groups, or in their natal colony, and then analyzed their behaviors while alone or paired with another bee. We find that when alone, individuals of each rearing condition show distinct behavioral signatures. When paired with a conspecific, bees reared in small groups or in the natal colony express similar behavioral profiles. Isolated bees, however, showed increased social interactions. To identify the neurobiological correlates of these differences, we quantified brain gene expression and measured the volumes of key brain regions for a subset of individuals from each rearing condition. Overall, we find that isolation increases social interactions and disrupts gene expression and brain development. Limited social experience in small groups is sufficient to preserve typical patterns of brain development and social behavior.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2021

The lesser Pacific striped octopus, Octopus chierchiae: an emerging laboratory model for the study of octopuses

Cephalopods have the potential to become useful experimental models in various fields of science, particularly in neuroscience, physiology, and behavior. Their complex nervous systems, intricate color- and texture-changing body patterns, and problem-solving abilities have attracted the attention of the biological research community, while the high growth rates and short life cycles of some species render them suitable for laboratory culture. Octopus chierchiae is a small octopus native to the central Pacific coast of North America whose predictable reproduction, short time to maturity, small adult size, and ability to lay multiple egg clutches (iteroparity) make this species ideally suited to laboratory culture. Here we describe novel methods for culture of O. chierchiae, with emphasis on enclosure designs, feeding regimes, and breeding management. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of multigenerational culture of O. chierchiae. Specifically, O. chierchiae bred in the laboratory grows from a 3.5-millimeter mantle length at hatching to an adult mantle length of approximately 20-30 millimeters in 250-300 days, with 14-15% survivorship to over 400 days of age in first and second generations. O. chierchiae sexually matures at around an estimated six months of age and, unlike most octopus species, can lay multiple clutches of eggs, approximately every 30-90 days. Eggs are large and hatchlings emerge as direct developing octopuses. Based on these results, we propose that O. chierchiae possesses both the practical and biological features needed for a model octopus that can be cultured repeatedly to address a wide range of fundamental biological questions.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2020

SLEAP: Multi-animal pose tracking

The desire to understand how the brain generates and patterns behavior has driven rapid methodological innovation to quantify and model natural animal behavior. This has led to important advances in deep learning-based markerless pose estimation that have been enabled in part by the success of deep learning for computer vision applications. Here we present SLEAP (Social LEAP Estimates Animal Poses), a framework for multi-animal pose tracking via deep learning. This system is capable of simultaneously tracking any number of animals during social interactions and across a variety of experimental conditions. SLEAP implements several complementary approaches for dealing with the problems inherent in moving from single-to multi-animal pose tracking, including configurable neural network architectures, inference techniques, and tracking algorithms, enabling easy specialization and tuning for particular experimental conditions or performance requirements. We report results on multiple datasets of socially interacting animals (flies, bees, and mice) and describe how dataset-specific properties can be leveraged to determine the best configuration of SLEAP models. Using a high accuracy model (<2.8 px error on 95% of points), we were able to track two animals from full size 1024 x 1024 pixel frames at up to 320 FPS. The SLEAP framework comes with a sophisticated graphical user interface, multi-platform support, Colab-based GPU-free training and inference, and complete tutorials available, in addition to the datasets, at sleap.ai.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2019

Natural naphthoquinones isolated from Lithospermum erythrorhizon suppress dextran sulfate sodium-induced murine experimental colitis

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of natural shikonin and its derivatives on mice experimental colitis induced by dextran sulfate sodium, and to investigate the underlying mechanisms in vivo. Our results suggested that, intragastric administration of single compound like shikonin and its derivatives contributed to attenuating symptoms of malignant induced by DSS. Meanwhile, shikonin or its derivatives could also remarkably reduce the disease activity index and histopathological scores, suppress the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (including IL-6, IL-1{beta} and TNF-), while increase that of inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in serum. Additionally, both shikonin and alkanin were found to restrain the levels of COX-2, MPO and iNOS in serum and colonic tissues. Moreover, western blotting results demonstrated that shikonin and its derivatives could inhibit the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and the NF-{kappa}B signaling pathway, relieve the DSS-induced disruption of colonic epithelial tight junction (TJ) in colonic tissues. Further, docking simulation had been performed to prove that shikonin and its derivatives could bind to the active sites of NLRP3 inflammasome and the NF-{kappa}B to generate an effective inflammatory effect. Taken together, our experimental data can provide some evidence for the potential use of shikonin and its derivatives to treat the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2018

Multiple optic gland signaling pathways implicated in octopus maternal behaviors and death

0. Summary statementOctopus optic glands employ a multiplex progression of signaling molecules to regulate maternal behaviors.\n\n1. AbstractPost-reproductive life in the female octopus is characterized by an extreme pattern of maternal care: the mother cares for her clutch of eggs without feeding until her death. These maternal behaviors are completely eradicated if the optic glands, the octopus analog of the vertebrate pituitary gland, are removed from brooding females. Despite the optic glands importance in regulating maternal behavior, the molecular features underlying optic gland function are unknown. Here, we identify major signaling systems of the Octopus bimaculoides optic gland. Through behavioral analyses and transcriptome sequencing, we report that the optic gland undergoes remarkable molecular changes that coincide with transitions between behavioral stages. These include the dramatic up- and down-regulation of catecholamine, steroid, insulin, and feeding peptide pathways. Transcriptome analyses in other tissues demonstrate that these molecular changes are not generalized markers of aging and senescence, but instead, specific features of the optic glands. Our results provide strong evidence for the functional conservation of signaling molecules across evolutionarily distant species. For example, elevated levels of insulin growth factor binding proteins are associated with cachexia-like tissue wasting in flies, humans, and, reported here, octopuses. Our study expands the classic optic gland-pituitary gland analogy and indicates that, rather than a single \"self-destruct\" hormone, the maternal optic glands employ multiple pathways as systemic hormonal signals of behavioral control.

animal behavior and cognition↗