Expression pattern of glycoside hydrolase genes in Lutzomyia longipalpis reveals key enzymes involved in larval digestion

Moraes, Caroline da Silva and Diaz-Albiter, Hector M. and Faria, Maiara do Valle and Sant'Anna, Maurício R. V. and Dillon, Rod J. and Genta, Fernando A. (2014) Expression pattern of glycoside hydrolase genes in Lutzomyia longipalpis reveals key enzymes involved in larval digestion. Frontiers in Physiology, 5: 276.

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Abstract

The sand fly Lutzomyia longipalpis is the most important vector of American Visceral Leishmaniasis. Adults are phytophagous (males and females) or blood feeders (females only), and larvae feed on solid detritus. Digestion in sand fly larvae has scarcely been studied, but some glycosidase activities putatively involved in microorganism digestion were already described. Nevertheless, the molecular nature of these enzymes, as the corresponding genes and transcripts, were not explored yet. Catabolism of microbial carbohydrates in insects generally involves β-1,3-glucanases, chitinases, and digestive lysozymes. In this work, the transcripts of digestive β-1,3-glucanase and chitinases were identified in the L. longipalpis larvae throughout analysis of sequences and expression patterns of glycoside hydrolases families 16, 18, and 22. The activity of one i-type lysozyme was also registered. Interestingly, this lysozyme seems to play a role in immunity, rather than digestion. This is the first attempt to identify the molecular nature of sand fly larval digestive enzymes.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Frontiers in Physiology
Additional Information:
Copyright © 2014 Moraes, Diaz-Albiter, Faria, Sant'Anna, Dillon and Genta. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2700/2737
Subjects:
?? lutzomyia longipalpisdigestion β-1 3-glucanase chitinase lysozymephysiology (medical)physiology ??
ID Code:
70586
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
29 Aug 2014 08:08
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
24 Aug 2024 23:32