Improving the nutritional values of yellow mealworm Tenebrio molitor(Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) larvae as an animal feed ingredient: a review

Yellow mealworm larvae(YML;Tenebrio molitor) are considered as a valuable insect species for animal feed due to their high nutritional values and ability to grow under different substrates and rearing conditions. Advances in the understanding of entomophagy and animal nutrition over the past decades have propelled research areas toward testing multiple aspects of YML to exploit them better as animal feed sources. This review aims to summarize various approaches that could be exploited to maximize the nutritional values of YML as an animal feed ingredient. In addition, YML has the potential to be used as an antimicrobial or bioactive agent to improve animal health and immune function in production animals. The dynamics of the nutritional profile of YML can be influenced by multiple factors and should be taken into account when attempting to optimize the nutrient contents of YML as an animal feed ingredient. Specifically, the use of novel land-based and aquatic feeding resources, probiotics, and the exploitation of larval gut microbiomes as novel strategies can assist to maximize the nutritional potential of YML. Selection of relevant feed supplies, optimization of ambient conditions, the introduction of novel genetic selection procedures, and implementation of effective post-harvest processing may be required in the future to commercialize mealworm production. Furthermore, the use of appropriate agricultural practices and technological improvements within the mealworm production sector should be aimed at achieving both economic and environmental sustainability. The issues highlighted in this review could pave the way for future approaches to improve the nutritional value of YML.

Effects of undigested protein-rich ingredients on polarised small intestinal organoid monolayers

Here, we describe the use of monolayers of intestinal epithelial cells derived from intestinal organoids and transcriptomics to investigate the direct effects of dietary protein sources on epithelial function. Mechanically dissociated 3 D organoids of mouse duodenum were used to generate a polarized epithelium containing all cell types found in the tissue of origin. The organoid-derived cell monolayers were exposed to 4%(w/v) of ‘undigested(non-hydrolysed)-soluble' fraction of protein sources used as feed ingredients [soybean meal(SBM) and casein], or alternative protein sources(spray dried plasma protein, and yellow meal worm), or controls for 6 h prior to RNA isolation and transcriptomics. All protein sources altered expression of unique biological processes in the epithelial cells. Exposure of intestinal organoids to SBM downregulated expression of retinol and retinoid metabolic processes as well as cholesterol and lipid biosynthetic pathways, consistent with the reported hypotriglyceridaemic effect of soy protein in vivo. These findings support the use of intestinal organoids as models to evaluate complex interactions between dietary ingredients and the intestinal epithelium and highlights some unique host effects of alternative protein sources in animal feed and potentially human food.

Production and pathogenicity of hepatitis C virus core gene products

Hepatitis C virus(HCV)is a major cause of chronic liver diseases,including steatosis,cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma,and its infection is also associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus.HCV,belonging to the Flaviviridae family,is a small enveloped virus whose positive-stranded RNA genome encoding a polyprotein.The HCV core protein is cleaved first at residue 191 by the host signal peptidase and further cleaved by the host signal peptide peptidase at about residue 177 to generate the mature core protein(a.a.1-177)and the cleaved peptide(a.a.178-191).Core protein could induce insulin resistance,steatosis and even hepatocellular carcinoma through various mechanisms.The peptide(a.a.178-191)may play a role in the immune response.The polymorphism of this peptide is associated with the cellular lipid drop accumulation,contributing to steatosis development.In addition to the conventional open reading frame(ORF),in the+1 frame,an ORF overlaps with the core proteincoding sequence and encodes the alternative reading frame proteins(ARFP or core+1).ARFP/core+1/F protein could enhance hepatocyte growth and may regulate iron metabolism.In this review,we briefly summarized the current knowledge regarding the production of different core gene products and their roles in viral pathogenesis.

Review on Using of Housefly Maggots(Musca domestica)in Fish Diets

The main animal protein ingredient in fish diets is most often fishmeal because of its nutritional quality.However,the limited availability and increasingly cost of fishmeal has lead to investigations of either lowering or replacing the fishmeal content with more economic protein sources of animal and/or plant origin.The research for appropriate and cheap cost alternative sources of protein to use in commercial fish diets will be the most important factor in intensive fish culture development.Insect meals are healthy and nutritious alternatives to fish meal due to their rich nutritional values,particularly protein,fat and minerals.Housefly maggots(Musca domestica)meal is also rich in B complex vitamins,trace elements and phosphorus.From the results of previous studies,Housefly maggots meal can be used successfully to replace the fish meal portion partially or completely in the fish diets.Also,the results observed that not physiological stressful was introduced in the fish by feeding Housefly maggots meal diets.This indicates that Housefly maggots meal were well utilized by the fish thus resulting in good growth of fish.In other study,observed a best growth performance with fish feeding on diets containing maggot’s meal compared with fish feeding on fishmeal diet.This indicates the high nutritional quality and fish acceptance of maggot’s meal.

The Nutritional Value of Yellow Lupine (Lupinus luteus)for Growing Pigs

The aim of the study was a comparison of the composition and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of nutrients in the seeds of two varieties of yellow lupine (YL). Moreover, an examination of the level of soybean meal (SBM) substitution by YL meal and in a combination with rapeseed meal (RSM) on the pigs’ performance was performed. In a digestibility trial, 30 male pigs were tested using a marker method. In two growth experiments, 60 pigs (in each) were fed diets where SBM was replaced by YL in 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% or by a mixture of RSM and YL or by both these components. The chemical composition of varieties differed among crude protein (CP), fiber, acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and fat. The digestibility coefficients of protein, fat and gross energy were similar for both varieties. The substitution of SBM with YL did not negatively affect the pigs’ performance. A mixture of RSM with YL had no negative effect on growth parameters, except for the starter phase, when a level of above 15% RSM in the diet reduced the pigs’ gains. In conclusion, YL alone and with RSM may be a sustainable alternative to SBM in pig nutrition.

Recent advances in the production of single cell protein from renewable resources and applications

Single Cell Protein(SCP)refers to dry cells of microorganisms,and it constitutes a highly promising and alternative protein source for multiple applications.SCP presents a rich nutritional profile containing valuable amino acids and fatty acids,nucleic acids,minerals,and several vitamins.Several businesses worldwide have introduced SCP into their production cycles,hence expanding the scope of its application in value added market chains such as the edible food packaging.SCP is produced by a plethora of microorganisms,including fungi,yeasts,bacteria,and algae while many of them are Generally Recognized as Safe(GRAS).Selected microbial strains present satisfying growth capability with high yields when cultivated in renewable feedstock.Thus,production rates and process sustainability could be enhanced via the valorization of industrial and agricultural wastes as the nutrient sources,combined with optimization of process parameters,i.e fermentation mode and feeding strategy,pH,temperature,C/N ratio,agitation rate and oxygen supply.This review addresses the latest developments made towards the SCP production,highlighting efficient microbial SCP producers,and production systems that valorize solid and liquid streams from several agricultural wastes.Potential applications,challenges in sensorial-,and safety-aspects as well as consumers perception issues of SCP incorporation into food-related matrices are also discussed.

Regulators of alternative polyadenylation operate at the transition from mitosis to meiosis

In the sexually reproductive organisms, gametes are produced by meiosis following a limited mitotic amplification. However, the intrinsic program switching cells from mitotic to meiotic cycle is unclear.Alternative polyadenylation（APA） is a highly conserved means of gene regulation and is achieved by the RNA 30-processing machinery to generate diverse 30 UTR profiles. In Drosophila spermatogenesis, we observed distinct profiles of transcriptome-wide 30 UTR between mitotic and meiotic cells. In mutant germ cells stuck in mitosis, 30 UTRs of hundreds of genes were consistently shifted. Remarkably, altering the levels of multiple 30-processing factors disrupted germline＇s progression to meiosis, indicative of APA＇s active role in this transition. An RNA-binding protein（RBP） Tut could directly bind 30 UTRs of 30-processing factors whose expressions were repressed in the presence of Tut-containing complex. Further,we demonstrated that this RBP complex could execute the repression post-transcriptionally by recruiting CCR4/Twin of deadenylation complex. Thus, we propose that an RBP complex regulates the dynamic APA profile to promote the mitosis-to-meiosis transition.

Newfound Coding Potential of Transcripts Unveils Missing Members of Human Protein Communities

Recent proteogenomic approaches have led to the discovery that regions of the transcriptome previously annotated as non-coding regions[i.e.,untranslated regions(UTRs),open reading frames overlapping annotated coding sequences in a different reading frame,and non-coding RNAs]frequently encode proteins,termed alternative proteins(altProts).This suggests that previously identified protein–protein interaction(PPI)networks are partially incomplete because altProts are not present in conventional protein databases.Here,we used the proteogenomic resource OpenProt and a combined spectrum-and peptide-centric analysis for the re-analysis of a highthroughput human network proteomics dataset,thereby revealing the presence of 261 altProts in the network.We found 19 genes encoding both an annotated(reference)and an alternative protein interacting with each other.Of the 117 altProts encoded by pseudogenes,38 are direct interactors of reference proteins encoded by their respective parental genes.Finally,we experimentally validate several interactions involving altProts.These data improve the blueprints of the human PPI network and suggest functional roles for hundreds of altProts.

Recent advances in the utilization of insects as an ingredient in aquafeeds:A review

The aquafeed industry continues to expand in response to the rapidly growing aquaculture sector.However,the identification of alternative protein sources in aquatic animal diets to replace conventional sources due to cost and sustainability issues remains a major challenge.Recently,insects have shown tremendous results as potential replacers of fishmeal in aquafeed.The present study aimed to review the utilization of insects in aquafeeds and their effects on aquatic animals’growth and feed utilization,immune response and disease resistance,and fish flesh quality and safety.While many insect species have been investigated in aquaculture,the black soldier fly(Hermetia illucens),and the mealworm(Tenebrio molitor)are the most studied and most promising insects to replace fishmeal in aquafeed.Generally,insect rearing conditions and biomass processing methods may affect the product’s nutritional composition,digestibility,shelf life and required insect inclusion level by aquatic animals.Also,insect-recommended inclusion levels for aquatic animals vary depending on the insect species used,biomass processing method,and test organism.Overall,while an appropriate inclusion level of insects in aquafeed provides several nutritional and health benefits to aquatic animals,more studies are needed to establish optimum requirements levels for different aquaculture species at different stages of development and under different culture systems.

Effect of partial and complete replacement of soybean with discarded cashew nut (Anacardium occidentale L) on liver and stomach histology of Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822)

The need for replacement of highly priced soybean meal(SM)in fish diets with unconventional plant materials has become imperative for the sustainability of aquaculture production.This study addressed the effect of replacing SM with discarded cashew nut meal(DCNM)on the liver and stomach histology in African catfish(Clarias gariepinus).Total 90 juveniles(24.83±1.52 g)were fed DCNM based diets,inclusion level of 0,50%and 100%.Fish were fed twice daily(8:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.)at 5%body weight for 56 days.The histology of liver and the stomach were assessed.Histo-morphological changes of the liver tissue were moderate at 100%DCNM fed fish compared to 50%DCNM and control(0 DCNM).Photomicrograph of stomach of 50%DCNM fed fish showed normal histo-morphological features,while moderate to severe histological distortions were observed in the stomach of 100%DCNM fed fish.The findings of the present study showed that partial(50%)replacement of SM with DCNM had no adverse nutritional consequence while total(100%)replacement of SM with DCNM in the diet of C.gariepinus resulted to moderate histological distortions of the liver and stomach.

Value of T cell receptor gamma alternate reading frame protein and keratin 5 in endometrial carcinoma

Background Tumors with different gene expression develop and progress in different ways. To deepen our understanding of the progression in endometrial cancer, and provide a useful tool for accurate diagnosis and prognosis assessment, we identified the new molecular prognostic markers in endometrial carcinoma and analyzed the relationship of them with clinical and pathological features of endometrial carcinoma. Methods Ninety-four cases of endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinoma with complete data from the Peking University People＇s Hospital from 2000 to 2008 and 40 cases of normal endometrium were enrolled. Among these, 30 endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinoma samples of different International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics （FIGO） stage were selected for further Agilent genome-wide microarray analysis. Significance analysis of microarrays （SAM） was used to identify genes that are significantly associated with tumor progress. Immunohistochemistry was utilized to identify the genes of interest in endometrial carcinoma and normal endometrium. The relationship between the genes and the age, clinical stage, histological grade, myometrium invaded depth, lymph node metastasis status, and the expression of ER, PR, P53, and PTEN were analyzed by X2 test. Results Analysis between FIGO 1988 stage I and stage III identified a 362-gene ＂progress signature＂; 171 downregulated and 191 up-regulated genes. Among the alterative genes, TARP （T cell receptor gamma alternate reading frame protein） and KRT5 （keratin 5） decreased 3.57 fold and 5.8 fold in FIGO stage III patients. The expression of TARP in endometrial carcinoma increased compared to normal endometrium, while that of KRT5 decreased （P〈0.05）. The expression of TARP and KRT5 decreased when stage, histological grading, myometrium invaded depth increased （P〈0.05）. In the cases with lymph node metastasis, the expression of TARP decreased, while the expression of KRT5 did not differ （both P〈0.05） both. The expression of P53 had a negative relationship with the expression of KRT5 （P〈0.05）, but not with the expression of TARP （P〉0.05）. There was no correlation between the expression of TARP and KRT5 and the expression of ER, PR, PTEN （all P〉0.05）. There was no significant difference in TARP and KRT5 expression in patients aged 50 or younger and patients older than 50 （P〉0.05）. Conclusion The expression of TARP and KRT5 was correlated with the progress of endometrial cancer and their role needs further study.