Chenopodium quinoa mitovirus 1 (CqMV1), a member of Mitovirus in the family Mitoviridae, is the first identified plant mitovirus (Nerva et al., 2019), which has been reported to be capable of infec...

Adulteration of high-value beef with lower-priced alternatives is a world-wide problem resulting in consumers’ distrust and market chaos. Therefore, effective methods for the identification and quantification of adulterated beef products are urgently needed. In this study, we developed a reliable droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) method targeting the single-copy nuclear genes for qualitative and quantitative detection of the presence of porcine and chicken derivatives in beef. A fixed constant (transfer coefficient) was introduced to directly transform the ratio of DNA copy number to the mass proportion of targeted meats. Results revealed that the linearity range of quantification for pork and chicken were both from 1% (w/w) to 90% (w/w). The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of the developed ddPCR method were the same for pork and chicken in beef, with LOD 0.1% (w/w) and LOQ 1% (w/w). The accuracy and applicability of the method was tested and verified using mixed samples with the known proportions and commercially available beef products. We conclude that our developed ddPCR method was accurate and reliable in identifying and quantifying porcine and chicken derivatives in beef and therefore has great potential to be applied in routine analyses and quality control of beef products.

The brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens, is a difficult-to-control insect pest affecting rice yields in Asia. As a structural component of the inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor (ITI), the inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain (ITIH) has been reported to be involved in various inflammatory or malignant disorders, ovarian development, and ovulation. To reveal the function of ITIH4 in N. lugens, the gene encoding N. lugens ITIH4 (NlITIH4) was cloned and characterized. NlITIH4 contains a signal peptide, a vault protein inter-alpha-trypsin domain, and a von Willebrand factor type A domain. qPCR analysis showed that NlITIH4 was expressed at all developmental stages and in all tissues (fat body, ovary, and gut), with the highest expression in the fat body. Double stranded NlITIH4 (dsNlITIH4) injection clearly led to an RNAi-mediated inhibition of the expression of NlITIH4 and resulted in reduced survival, delayed ovarian development, and reduced egg production and egg hatching. These results indicate that NlITIH4 plays an important role in the development and reproduction of N. lugens.