@article {152146, title = {Mitochondrial genetic diversity of pest and vector species, Frankliniella schultzei (Thripidae: Thripinae).}, journal = {Mol Biol Rep}, volume = {52}, year = {2024}, month = {2024 Dec 17}, pages = {55}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Frankliniella schultzei (Trybom) is a serious pest and a carrier of tospoviruses in major agricultural crops. This species is a historical and unresolved species complex that contains genetically different cryptic species across the globe.

METHODS AND RESULTS: DNA barcodes were generated from freshly collected specimens of F. schultzei from India and Australia using the sanger sequencing. Seventy-five COI sequences were generated from India and Australia. Moreover, 318 sequences were downloaded (India, Australia, Pakistan, and Africa) from the NCBI GenBank to explore the genetic diversity and phylogeny. The minimum and maximum mean interspecific distance between 393 sequences was found to be 7.97\% and 21.50\%, respectively. Bayesian and Neighbour joining clustering indicated the presence of five putative species within F. schultzei that had sympatry and allopatry. Moreover, 20 haplotypes and 140 polymorphic sites were identified. The African clade is unique; it does not share haplotypes with any other countries, suggesting it may represent the true F. schultzei. Haplotype network analysis showed shallow gene flow and deep genetic variation between the populations. Signatures of recent population history events were measured using Fu{\textquoteright}s Fs test and Tajima{\textquoteright}s D test. Morphometric analysis based on seven characters is also carried out.

CONCLUSION: Phylogeny and genetic distance revealed the presence of five putative species within F. schultzei. On the contrary, morphology does not unequivocally corroborate the phylogenetic results, as morphometric analysis showed overlap among these clades. To resolve F. schultzei species complex, whole genome-based sequencing data are very much necessitated.

}, keywords = {Animals, Australia, Bayes Theorem, DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic, DNA, Mitochondrial, Gene Flow, Genetic Variation, Haplotypes, India, Insect Vectors, Mitochondria, Phylogeny, Thysanoptera}, issn = {1573-4978}, doi = {10.1007/s11033-024-10108-4}, author = {Singha, Devkant and Patidar, Abhishek and Pal, Shash and Tyagi, Kaomud and Kumar, Vikas} } @article {77434, title = {The Viral SUMO-Targeted Ubiquitin Ligase ICP0 is Phosphorylated and Activated by Host Kinase Chk2.}, journal = {J Mol Biol}, volume = {432}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 Mar 27}, pages = {1952-1977}, abstract = {

When the herpes simplex virus (HSV) genome enters the nucleus for replication and transcription, phase-segregated nuclear protein bodies called Promyelocytic leukemia protein nuclear bodies (PML NBs) colocalize with the genome and repress it. HSV encodes a small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO)-targeted ubiquitin ligase (STUbL) infected cell polypeptide 0 (ICP0) that degrades PML NBs to alleviate the repression. The molecular details of the mechanism used by ICP0 to target PML NBs are unclear. Here, we identify a bona fide SUMO-interacting motif in ICP0 (SIM-like sequence [SLS] 4) that is essential and sufficient to target SUMOylated proteins in PML NBs such as the PML and Sp100. We shown that phosphorylation of SLS4 creates new salt bridges between SUMO and SLS4, increases the SUMO/SLS4 affinity, and switches ICP0 into a potent STUbL. HSV activates the Ataxia-telangiectasia-mutated kinase-Checkpoint kinase 2 (ATM-Chk2) pathway to regulate the cell cycle of the host. We report that the activated Chk2 also phosphorylates ICP0 at SLS4 and enhances its STUbL activity. Our results uncover that a viral STUbL counters antiviral response by exploiting an unprecedented cross-talk of three post-translational modifications: ubiquitination, SUMOylation, and phosphorylation.

}, issn = {1089-8638}, doi = {10.1016/j.jmb.2020.01.021}, author = {Hembram, Dambarudhar Shiba Sankar and Negi, Hitendra and Biswas, Poulomi and Tripathi, Vasvi and Bhushan, Lokesh and Shet, Divya and Kumar, Vikas and Das, Ranabir} }