Fig 2: Thyroid glands from C.RF-Tshrwild/wild and Tshrwild/hyt mice.Macroscopic views of thyroid glands from 12-week-old C.RF-Tshrwild/wild (a) and Tshrwild/hyt (b) mice observed under a stereomicroscope (Olympus SZX7). Black arrows indicate the upper poles, and red arrows indicate the lower poles of the left lobe of the thyroid gland. Histology on high magnification in C.RF-Tshrwild/wild (d) and Tshrwild/hyt (e) mice. Tissues were fixed with 4% formaldehyde and embedded in paraffin. Sections (5 µm) were stained with hematoxylin-eosin. Bars indicate 200 µm.

Fig 3: Arabidopsis plants leaves were used for feeding larvae. Twenty H. armigera (day 1 of the first instar larvae) were released on the detached leaves maintained in a sterile plastic flask. The images were taken using a dissecting microscope (Olympus SZX7, Japan). Only some larvae have been shown because they were active in plastic flask and the images of leaves were magnified for ease of observation. The non-transformants (CK) were used as a control, and three different transgenic lines, AtdsHaAK-6, AtdsHaAK-8 and AtdsHaAK-11, were used as experimental groups. Leaves from transgenic plants expressing HaAK dsRNA were ingested relative less by larvae compared with the untransformed leaves after 3 days of feeding. Especially, the mortality rate of larvae feeding on leaves of AtdsHaAK-8 line was significantly high and larval body sizes were distinctly reduced.

Fig 4: Immune reactions of honey bee queens.(A) Characterization of induced antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in honey bee queens by gel electrophoretic analyses of haemolymph proteins. Two young queens (2 days old) were left untreated and two queens were challenged with ~105 viable E. coli bacteria. Single queens were kept in small cages with five worker bees in an incubator at 35°C and 70% relative humidity. They were supplied with Apifonda ad libitum. The haemolymph was collected 24 h post-injection of each individual. Aliquots of these samples were applied onto a 15% polyacrylamide/0.1% SDS gel [83]. Gels were stained with Coomassie Brilliant Blue G250. Induced AMPs are indicated in red. (B) Inhibition-zone assay for the detection of antimicrobial activities in the haemolymph of queens challenged with E. coli. Aliquots of the same haemolymph samples as in (A) were applied onto agar plates together with Micrococcus flavus as indicator bacteria. (C) Nodulation reaction of queens. A total of 8 young queens (7 days old) were challenged with 105 viable E. coli bacteria. Upon 24 h p.i., abdominal tergits were removed and the body cavity of queens was exposed followed by inspection for the presence of melanised nodules (indicated by red arrows). Photomicrographs were taken with an Olympus SZX7 stereomicroscope equipped with an Olympus UC30 camera. Magnification was x20 for the complete abdomen and x32 for the detailed view.

Fig 5: The photo of the experiment system. The system consists of an Olympus SZX7-style stereo light microscope, a 3-axis motorized translation stage with a positioning precision of 1µm, three Panasonic-style laser displacement sensors with a precision of 10µm and a gauge block with size of 90 mm(length) × 5 mm(width) × 5 mm(height) and surface roughness of 0.8 µm.