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Cyanotis arachnoidea C. B. Clarke is a traditional Chinese medicinal herb that has a limited clinical use in the treatment of diabetes mellitus (DM) in minority areas of Guizhou in China. However, few prior reports are available on the quality control of Cyanotis arachnoidea, and its quality markers and hypoglycemic mechanism are still unclear. The purpose of this study is to explore the quality markers (Q-markers) of Cyanotis arachnoidea and predict its hypoglycemic mechanism. In this study, ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) fingerprint combined with chemical pattern recognition were performed, and four differential components were screened out as quality markers, including 20-Hydroxyecdysone, 3-O-acetyl-20-hydroxyecdysone, Ajugasterone C, and 2-O-acetyl-20-hydroxyecdysone. Network pharmacology analysis revealed 107 therapeutic target genes of Cyanotis arachnoidea in DM treatment, and the key targets were Akt1, TNF, IL-6, MAPK3, and JUN. The hypoglycemic mode of action of Cyanotis arachnoidea may be mediated by tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling, cancer, insulin resistance, and JAK-STAT pathways. Molecular docking analysis disclosed that the foregoing quality markers effectively bound their key target genes. An in vitro experiment conducted on pancreatic islet ß-cells indicated that the forenamed active components of Cyanotis arachnoidea had hypoglycemic efficacy by promoting PI3K/Akt and inhibiting MAPK signaling. UHPLC also accurately quantified the quality markers. The identification and analysis of quality markers for Cyanotis arachnoidea is expected to provide references for the establishment of a quality control evaluation system and clarify the material basis and hypoglycemic mechanisms of this traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) is an important commercial fish farmed in China. Challenges related to diseases caused by pathogens, such as iridovirus, have become increasingly serious. In 2017, we detected iridovirus-infected diseased largemouth bass in Zunyi, Guizhou Province. The isolated virus was identified as an infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV)-like virus (ISKNV-ZY). ISKNV-ZY induces a cytopathic effect after infecting mandarin fish brain (MFB) cells. Abundant hexagonal virus particles were observed in the cytoplasm of ISKNV-ZY-infected MFB cells, using electron microscopy. The whole genome of ISKNV-ZY contained 112,248 bp and 122 open reading frames. Phylogenetic tree analysis showed that ISKNV-ZY was most closely related to BCIV, indicating that it is an ISKNV-like megalocytivirus. ISKNV-ZY-infected largemouth bass started to die on day six and reached a death peak on days 7–8. Cumulative mortality reached 100% on day 10. Using RNA sequencing-based transcriptome analysis after ISKNV-ZY infection, 6254 differentially expressed unigenes (DEGs) were identified, of which 3518 were upregulated and 2673 downregulated. The DEGs were associated with endocytosis, thermogenesis, oxidative phosphorylation, the JAK-STAT signaling pathway, the MAPK signaling pathway, etc. These results contribute to understanding the molecular regulation mechanism of ISKNV infection and provide a basis for ISKNV prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]