Browsing by Author "Jia Y"

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    Rapid Spread of Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus by Parthenogenetic Asian Longhorned Ticks.
    (2022-02) Zhang X; Zhao C; Cheng C; Zhang G; Yu T; Lawrence K; Li H; Sun J; Yang Z; Ye L; Chu H; Wang Y; Han X; Jia Y; Fan S; Kanuka H; Tanaka T; Jenkins C; Gedye K; Chandra S; Price DC; Liu Q; Choi YK; Zhan X; Zhang Z; Zheng A
    Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is spreading rapidly in Asia. This virus is transmitted by the Asian longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis), which has parthenogenetically and sexually reproducing populations. Parthenogenetic populations were found in ≥15 provinces in China and strongly correlated with the distribution of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome cases. However, distribution of these cases was poorly correlated with the distribution of populations of bisexual ticks. Phylogeographic analysis suggested that the parthenogenetic population spread much faster than bisexual population because colonization is independent of sexual reproduction. A higher proportion of parthenogenetic ticks was collected from migratory birds captured at an SFTSV-endemic area, implicating the contribution to the long-range movement of these ticks in China. The SFTSV susceptibility of parthenogenetic females was similar to that of bisexual females under laboratory conditions. These results suggest that parthenogenetic Asian longhorned ticks, probably transported by migratory birds, play a major role in the rapid spread of SFTSV.
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    Transcriptome-Wide Gene Expression Plasticity in Stipa grandis in Response to Grazing Intensity Differences
    (MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2021-11-02) Dang Z; Jia Y; Tian Y; Li J; Zhang Y; Huang L; Liang C; Lockhart PJ; Matthew C; Li FY; Hobza R
    Organisms have evolved effective and distinct adaptive strategies to survive. Stipa grandis is a representative species for studying the grazing effect on typical steppe plants in the Inner Mongolia Plateau. Although phenotypic (morphological and physiological) variations in S. grandis in response to long-term grazing have been identified, the molecular mechanisms underlying adaptations and plastic responses remain largely unknown. Here, we performed a transcriptomic analysis to investigate changes in gene expression of S. grandis under four different grazing intensities. As a result, a total of 2357 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified among the tested grazing intensities, suggesting long-term grazing resulted in gene expression plasticity that affected diverse biological processes and metabolic pathways in S. grandis. DEGs were identified in RNA-Seq and qRT-PCR analyses that indicated the modulation of the Calvin-Benson cycle and photorespiration metabolic pathways. The key gene expression profiles encoding various proteins (e.g., ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase, glycolate oxidase, etc.) involved in these pathways suggest that they may synergistically respond to grazing to increase the resilience and stress tolerance of S. grandis. Our findings provide scientific clues for improving grassland use and protection and identifying important questions to address in future transcriptome studies.