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The appetite of honeybees for food is crucial to their survival and reproduction, as they sustain their entire colony by collecting pollen and nectar for nutrients. Dopamine, an important neurotransmitter, regulates appetite and satiety. However, how dopamine regulates honeybee foraging behavior remains unexplored. In this study, we investigated dopamine expression in 23-day-old Apis mellifera under different food-wanting conditions and identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the brains of honeybees using RNA sequencing technology. We showed that dopamine levels in honeybees starved for 2 h were higher than those sated after 2 h of starvation. RNA-seq results revealed there were differences in the expression of cytochrome P450-dependent monooxygenase (CYP9Q1) in honeybees, which regulated the sucrose sensitivity of honeybees under different intake states. Furthermore, CYP9Q1 targeted the expression of the insulin receptor substrate (IRS) to promote dopamine synthesis. Our findings emphasize the relationship between dopamine and honeybees' desire for food at the molecular level, providing a reference for further exploring the mechanism of food wanting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is marked by a progressive loss of central vision and is the third leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. The exact mechanisms driving the progression of this macular degenerative condition remain elusive, and as of now, there are no available preventative measures for dry AMD. According to ancient records, ginseng affects the eyes by brightening them and enhancing wisdom. Modern pharmacological research shows that the active ingredients in ginseng, ginsenosides, may be used to prevent or improve eye diseases that threaten vision. Some articles have reported that ginsenoside Rg3 can treat diabetic retinopathy in mice, but no reports exist on its effects and mechanisms in AMD. Therefore, the role and mechanism of ginsenoside Rg3 in AMD warrant further study. This study aims to investigate the effects of Rg3 on AMD and its underlying molecular mechanisms. We established a mouse model of AMD to examine the impact of ginsenoside Rg3 on NaIO3-induced apoptosis in the retina and to explore the related intrinsic mechanisms. The in vivo results indicated that ginsenoside Rg3 prevents NaIO3-induced apoptosis in retinal pigment epithelial cells by inhibiting reactive oxygen species production and preventing the reduction in mitochondrial membrane potential. Additionally, we assessed the levels of protein expression within the apoptosis pathway. Ginsenoside Rg3 decreased the expression of Bax, cleaved caspase-3, and cleaved caspase-9 proteins. Additionally, it increased the expression of Bcl-2 by decreasing P-JNK levels. Moreover, our in vivo results showed that ginsenoside Rg3 enhanced retinal structure, increased the relative thickness of the retina, and decreased the extent of disorganization in both the inner and outer nuclear layers. Ginsenoside Rg3 may safeguard the retina against NaIO3-induced cell apoptosis by attenuating reactive-oxygen-species-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction, in which the JNK signaling pathway is also involved. These findings suggest that ginsenoside Rg3 has the potential to prevent or attenuate the progression of AMD and other retinal pathologies associated with NaIO3-mediated apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Asian honey bee (Apis cerana) plays a crucial role in providing abundant bee products and in maintaining ecological balance. Despite the availability of the genomic sequence of the Asian honey bee, its transcriptomic information remains largely incomplete. To address this issue, here we constructed three pooled RNA samples from the queen, drone, and worker bees of A. cerana and performed full-length RNA sequencing using Nanopore single-molecule sequencing technology. Ultimately, we obtained 160,811 full-length transcript sequences from 19,859 genes, with 141,189 being novel transcripts, of which 130,367 were functionally annotated. We detected 520, 324, and 1823 specifically expressed transcripts in the queen, worker, and drone bees, respectively. Furthermore, we identified 38,799 alternative splicing (AS) events from 5710 genes, 44,243 alternative polyadenylation (APA) sites from 1649 gene loci, 88,187 simple sequence repeats (SSRs), and 17,387 long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). Leveraging these transcripts as references, we identified 6672, 7795, and 6804 differentially expressed transcripts (DETs) in comparisons of queen ovaries vs drone testes, worker ovaries vs drone testes, and worker ovaries vs queen ovaries, respectively. Our research results provide a comprehensive set of reference transcript datasets for Apis cerana, offering important sequence information for further exploration of its gene functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]