• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Sericultural Science Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.64-64
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• 2002

No Abstract, See Full Text

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.128-150
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• 2005

Invertebrate animals, which lack adaptive immune systems, have developed other systems of biological host defense, so called innate immunity, that respond to common antigens on the cell surfaces of potential pathogens. During the past two decades, the molecular structures and functions of various defense components that participated in innate immune systems have been established in Arthropoda, such as, insects, the horseshoe crab, freshwater crayfish, and the protochordata ascidian. These defense molecules include phenoloxidases, clotting factors, complement factors, lectins, protease inhibitors, antimicrobial peptides, Toll receptors, and other humoral factors found mainly in hemolymph plasma and hemocytes. These components, which together compose the innate immune system, defend invertebrate from invading bacterial, fungal, and viral pathogens. This review describes the present status of our knowledge concerning such defensive molecules in invertebrates.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.367-370
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• 1998

Two molecular species of apolipophorin-III (spoLp-III) were purified from the last instar larval hemolymph of Galleria mellonella by gel permeation chromatography (Sephadex G-100), ion exchange chromatography (DE-52), heat treatment (90C for 30 min) and Mono S FPLC, and were named apoLp-III-a and apoLp-lll-b, respectively. They were indistinguishable by SDS-PAGE but could be separated by native PAGE. The molecular mass of apoLp-III determined by SDS-PAGE was approximately 18 kDa. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of apoLp-III-b revealed high similarities with the apoLp-III from Manduca sexta.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.163-168
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• 2001

We isolated and sequenced a cDNA clone corresponding to apolipophorin-III (apoLp-III) from the fall webworm, Hyphantria cunea. The cDNA for apoLp-III codes fer a 187-residue protein (561 bp) with a predicted molecular mass of 20 kDa. The calculated isoelectric point is 8.76. Multiple alignment analysis of the amino acid sequence revealed that H. cunea apoLp-III is most similar to that of Spodoptera litura (71.5% identity), followed by that of Manduca sexta (69.7% identity). They share five amphipathic $\alpha$-helices that are proposed to play a critical role in the binding of apoLp-III to lipophorin.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.173-180
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• 1999

A blue biliprotein, insecticyanin (INS), has been purified from the last instar larval hemolymph of Agrius convolvuli by ultracentrifugation, Sephadex G-100 gel permeation chromatography, and preparative electrophoresis. The molecular mass of INS was estimated to be 26 kDa and the N-terminal sequence of INS revealed high similarity to that of Manduca sexta. Results of Western blotting and autoradiography indicated that INS is synthesized by the epidermis and released into the hemolymph. In contrast to the INS reported in other insects, Agrius convolvuli INS contained a small amount of lipid, predominately consisting of triacylglycerol. Subcellular localization of INS was determined using protein-A gold particles linked to secondary antibodies (anti-rabbit Ig). INS was heavily accumulated in the cytoplasmic inclusion body (CIB). CIBs showed a variety of shapes from rod to globule and generally surrounded the nucleus. They were mostly located near the basement membrane and especially abundant in the intersegmental membrane.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.297-304
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• 2009

A complete mRNA sequence of transferrin from the wax moth, Galleria mellonella, was obtained, and compared with those of other species. We previously reported that the sequence was most similar to those of Manduca sexta and Bombyx mori. As in other moths, G. mellonella transferrin had only one iron-binding site at its N-terminal region. Semi-qRT PCR was conducted to investigate tissue-specific distribution and transcriptional regulation of the wax moth transferrin mRNA. Larval muscle and fat body contained larger quantity of mRNA than other tested tissues. In this study, it was observed that iron and cadmium regulated transferrin transcription, and this regulation pattern was tissue specific. Iron up-regulated transferrin mRNA level in fat body, while suppressed it in the Malpighian tubules and silk glands. Cadmium decreased the mRNA level in fat body, muscle, and Malpighian tubules, but significantly increased the mRNA level in silk glands. In addition, the mRNA expression was induced by all tested pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) including LPS, lipoteichoic acid (LTA), glucan, and even chitin.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 2005

Recently a cDNA clone of apoLp-III from Hyphantria cunea was isolated and subjected to computational analysis to compare with other available sequences. Multiple sequence alignments were carried out using the amino acid sequences of apoLp-III from six insects. It was found that the H. cunea apoLp-III has relatively high sequence identities to Spodoptera litura ($69.5\%$), Manduca sexta ($66.8\%$), Galleria mellonella ($65.1\%$), Bombyx mori N4 ($54.3\%$) but less identity to Locusta migratoria ($18.3\%$). The amino acid composition was compared with other insects using EXPASY tools; it shows that alanine (Ala), glutamine (Gln), leucine (Leu) and lysine (Lys) are the major amino acid components of apoLp-III in H. cunea as well as other lepidopterans. Homology modeling performed using PSI-BLAST (PDB template M. sexta) reveals that the apoLp-III molecules consist of five, long amphipathic alpha helical bundles with short loops connecting the helices and shows homology with other insects. Phylogenetic analysis shows that the orthopteran apoLp-III represented by locust was most distantly related to the lepidopteran insects.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.149-155
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• 2008

We have isolated and characterized Agrius convolvuli cDNA encoding a c-type lysozyme. The cDNA sequence encodes a processed protein of 139 amino acid residues with 19 amino acid residues amino-terminal signal sequence and 120 amino acid residues mature sequence. The amino acid residues responsible for the catalytic activity and the binding of the substrate are conserved. Agrius lysozyme has a high identity to Manduca sexta. Recombinant A. convolvuli lysozyme was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) pLysS cells for pGEX 4T-1 expression vector. Their optimal conditions for the fusion protein expression and purification were screened. Lysozyme gene amplified with primers ACLyz BamHI and ACLyz XhoI was ligated into the pGEX 4T-1 vector, which contained the glutathione S-transferase(GST) gene for fusion partner. The fusion protein was induced by IPTG and identified by SDS-PAGE analysis. Molecular weight of the fusion protein was estimated to be about 45 kDa. Recombinant lysozyme, fused to GST, was purified by glutathion-Sepharose 4B affinity chromatography. Western blot analysis of this protein revealed an immunoreactivity with the anti-Agrius lysozyme.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.321-325
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• 1996

To isolate a novel gene for antibacterial peptide, an inducible clone(BmInc8) was selected by differential screening strategy from Bombyx mori cDNA library prepared from lavae injected with Escherichia coli. This clone contained a cDNA insert of 564 nucleotides and encoded 59 amino acids with an apparent molecular mass of 6.3 kDa. The cDNA sequence of BmInc8 had 61.2% identity compared to that of the bactericidin from Manduca sexta and also the deduced amino acids sequences from this insert had 65% identity compared to that of the cecropin D peptide Hyalophora cecropia. The transient expression assay of this insert using prokaryotic expression vector system revealed that the expressed peptide displayed the antibacterial activity. The cDNA sequence was deposited in GenBank under the accession number U30289.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.175-182
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• 2007

The lysozyme II gene of cabbage butterfly Artogeia rapae was cloned from fat body of the larvae injected with E. coli and its nucleotide sequence was determined by the RACE-PCR. It has an open reading frame of 414 bp nucleotides corresponding to 138 amino acids including a signal sequence of 18 amino acids. The estimated molecular weight and the isoelectric point of the lysozyme II without the signal peptide were 13,649.38 Da and 9.11, respectively. The A. rapae lysozyme II (ARL II) showed the highest identity (81%) in the amino acid sequence to Manduca sexta lysozyme among other lepidopteran species. The two catalytic residues ($Glu^{32}$ and $Asp^{50}$) and the eight Cys residue motifs, which are highly conserved among other c-type lysozymes in invertebrates and vertebrates, are also completely conserved. A phylogenetic analysis based on amino acid sequences indicated that the ARL II was more closely related to M. sexta, Hyphantria cunea, Heliothis virescens, and Trichoplusia ni lysozymes. The ARL II gene was expressed in Spodoptera frugiperda 21 insect cells and the recombinant ARL II (rARL II) was purified from cell-conditioned media by cation exchange column chromatography and reverse phase FPLC. The purified rARL II was able to form a clear zone in lysoplate assay against Micrococcus luteus. The lytic activity was estimated to be 511.41 U/mg, 1.53 times higher than that of the chicken lysozyme. The optimum temperature for the lytic activity of the rARL II was $50^{\circ}C$, the temperature dependency of the absolute lytic activity of rARL II was higher than that of the chicken lysozyme at low temperatures under $65^{\circ}C$.