Blue biliprotein as an effective factor for cryptic colouration in Rhodinia fugax larvae.

The fifth instar larva of the saturniid silkworm, Rhodinia fugax, is light yellowish-green on its dorsal surface and dark green on the ventral surface with a lateral demarcation between the two colours. The larva of R. fugax closely resembles the leaves of the host plant, Quercus serrata, in colour and shape.

Dynamic rearrangement within the Antheraea pernyi silk fibroin gene is associated with four types of repetitive units.

We characterized a full-length gene encoding wild silkmoth Antheraea pernyi fibroin (Ap-fibroin) to clarify the conformation of repetitive sequences. The gene consisted of a first exon encoding 14 amino acid residues, a short intron (120 bp), and a long second exon encoding 2,625 amino acid residues. Three amino acids, alanine, glycine, and serine, amounted to 81% of the Ap-fibroin sequence.

Effects of suppressed oviposition activity and flight muscle histolysis on food consumption and ovarian development in a wing-dimorphic cricket: an explanation for sporadic conclusions related to physiological trade-offs.

The effects of deprivation of oviposition substrate on food consumption and egg production were compared between the long-winged (LW) and the short-winged (SW) morph of a cricket, Modicogryllus confirmatus, to determine how suppressed oviposition activity would influence these traits in each wing morph. Food consumption was greatly suppressed in females deprived of oviposition substrate (-OS) compared to those given access to it (+OS) during the 2-week feeding trial in the SW morph but not in the LW morph. Some LW females shed their hindwings and histolyzed the flight muscles.

Characterization and affinity purification of juvenile hormone esterase from Bombyx mori.

Juvenile hormone esterase (JHE) from hemolymph of the silkworm moth Bombyx mori was characterized for substrate specificity and inhibitor sensitivity. B. mori JHE hydrolyzed the juvenile hormone surrogate substrate methyl n-heptylthioacetothioate (HEPTAT) more efficiently than p-nitrophenyl acetate and 1-naphthyl acetate substrates widely used to assay total carboxylesterase activity.

In vitro antimicrobial properties of recombinant ASABF, an antimicrobial peptide isolated from the nematode Ascaris suum.

ASABF is a CSalphabeta-type antimicrobial peptide that contains four intramolecular disulfide bridges (Y. Kato and S. Komatsu, J.

Hormonal control of body-color polymorphism in Locusta migratoria: interaction between.

The effects of injection of [His(7)]-corazonin and juvenile hormone (JH) III on the body color in L. migratoria were investigated using albino and normal (pigmented) nymphs. Most albino nymphs turned green in the fourth instar if injected with JH III during the last 2 days of the previous instar.

Involvement of spindles of an entomopoxvirus (EPV) in infectivity of the EPVs to their host insect.

The biological function of entomopoxvirus (EPV) spindles (inclusion bodies that lack virions), has not been elucidated. We characterized the function of EPV spindles in the cupreous chafer, Anomala cuprea (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Spheroids or spheroids mixed with spindles of Anomala cuprea EPV were administered per os to the A.

Peroral infection of nuclear polyhedrosis virus budded particles in the host, Bombyx mori l., enabled by an optical brightener, Tinopal UNPA-GX.

Perorally inoculated budded particles of a nuclear polyhedrosis virus was used to infect Bombyx mori (BmNPV) (Lepidoptera; Bombycidae), aided by an optical brightener, Tinopal UNPA-GX (Tinopal). BmNPV budded particles not occluded in the occlusion body do not infect successfully the host, B. mori, when administered perorally.

Photoperiodic and thermal regulation of development and cold hardiness in larvae of the clover leaf weevil, Hypera punctata.

Effects of photoperiod and temperature on the development and cold hardiness were investigated in larvae of Hypera punctata. At a relatively low temperature (15 degrees C), the larvae fed less and developed more slowly under a 12L:12D (SD) photoperiod than under a 16L:8D photoperiod (LD). SD larvae had lower gut weight against the whole body weight and lower supercooling point (SCP) than the LD counterparts for the same instar and same body weight.

Host plant urease in the hemolymph of the silkworm, Bombyx mori.

Urease activity was detected in the hemolymph of the silkworm, Bombyx mori from the beginning of spinning to the pharate adult stage if the larvae were reared on mulberry leaves throughout the 5th-instar (the last larval instar). In contrast, no urease activity was detected in the hemolymph of insects fed artificial diets, resulting in accumulation of urea during the spinning stage. To identify the hemolymph urease, the enzyme was highly purified from the hemolymph of the spinning larvae that had been reared on mulberry leaves and the properties of the purified enzyme were compared with those of the mulberry leaf urease.

The role of.

The effect of [His(7)]-corazonin on the body color in Locusta migratoria was examined by varying the injected dose and the time of injection in both an albino and a normal (pigmented) strain. Albino nymphs injected with a high dose (100pmol) of [His(7)]-corazonin at the beginning of the third instar turned completely black in the following instar, whereas those injected with the same dose in the middle of the instar developed black patterns with an orange background color, the body coloration characteristic of normal gregarious (crowded) individuals. Injection at the end of the third instar induced a reddish color with few black spots.

Identification of.

The neuropeptides inducing dark color in albino nymphs of the migratory locust Locusta migratoria were isolated from the larval brain of the silkworm, Bombyx mori and from the adult corpora cardiaca (CC) of the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus, respectively, and their amino acid sequences identified. The two peptides isolated from the two different species are identical to [Arg(7)] corazonin, a neuropeptide known to be present in a cockroach and others. This peptide induces a dark color in albino nymphs of L.

A novel lipopolysaccharide response element in the Bombyx mori cecropin B promoter.

Cecropin B is one of the major antibacterial peptides in the silkworm, Bombyx mori. Transcription of the cecropin B gene (CecB) occurs rapidly after bacterial invasion. Using 235 base pairs (bp) of the CecB promoter region, a kappaB-related protein and two additional DNA-binding complexes (designated F2BPI and F4BP) were identified in nuclear extracts from immunized larval fat body by the electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) (1).

Preparation and characterization of apatite deposited on silk fabric using an alternate soaking process.

Apatite-deposited silk fabric composite materials were developed using a new alternate soaking process. The characteristics of deposited apatite were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Apatite weight increased with alternating soaking in a calcium solution [200 mM aqueous calcium chloride solution buffered with tris(hydroxymethyl) aminomethane and HCl (pH 7.

Biological control of an insect pest by gut-colonizing Enterobacter cloacae transformed with ice nucleation gene.

The ice nucleation (IN) gene inaA of epiphytic Erwinia (Pantoea) ananas IN10 was transformed into Enterobacter cloacae WBMH-3-CMr originated from the faeces of silkworms. The transformant designated as Ent. cloacae WBMH-3-CMr(pICE6S13) exhibited IN activity, unlike the parent strain.

Structure of insect chitin isolated from beetle larva cuticle and silkworm (Bombyx mori) pupa exuvia.

Chitin samples in a alpha-form structure were isolated from beetle larva cuticle and silkworm (Bombyx mori) pupa exuvia by treatment with 1 N HCl and 1 N NaOH. Chitosan was prepared by treating them in 40% NaOH containing NaBH(4). Chitin and chitosan were analyzed by X-ray, [13C]CP/MAS NMR, [13C]FT-NMR, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) methods.

Purification and properties of urease from the leaf of mulberry, Morus alba.

Urease was purified from leaves of mulberry (Morus alba, L.) by ammonium sulfate fractionation, acetone fractionation and sequential column chromatography including Q-Sepharose HP, Phenyl-Sepharose HP, Superdex 200 HR and Mono Q. The enzyme was purified 5700-fold to apparent homogeneity with a recovery of 3.

Duality monomer-dimer of the pheromone-binding protein from Bombyx mori.

The analysis of a recombinant pheromone-binding protein from the silkworm moth, Bombyx mori, by native gel electrophoresis with Coomassie staining showed one single band with a molecular mass consistent with a monomer. A slow migrating band, detected in the recombinant and native samples by a polyclonal antibody, was indistinguishable from the monomer in the mass spectrum fragmentation pattern and chromatographic behavior. Flow injection analyses of the protein by mass spectrometry in the negative mode showed fragments of a dimer.

Chemical modification of silk fibroin with 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine. II. Graft-polymerization onto fabric through 2-methacryloyloxyethyl isocyanate and interaction between fabric and platelets.

2-Methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) was grafted onto silk fabric in a two-step heterogeneous system through the vinyl bonds of 2-methacryloyloxyethyl isocyanate (MOI) modified on the fabric. First, habutae silk fabric was modified with the MOI monomer in anhydrous dimethyl sulfoxide using di-n-butyltin (IV) dilaurate and hydroquinone at 35 degrees C. The saturated weight gain of modified MOI monomer on the fabric was 7.

Germline transformation of the silkworm Bombyx mori L. using a piggyBac transposon-derived vector.

We have developed a system for stable germline transformation in the silkworm Bombyx mori L. using piggyBac, a transposon discovered in the lepidopteran Trichoplusia ni. The transformation constructs consist of the piggyBac inverted terminal repeats flanking a fusion of the B.

Disulfide structure of the pheromone binding protein from the silkworm moth, Bombyx mori.

Disulfide bond formation is the only known posttranslational modification of insect pheromone binding proteins (PBPs). In the PBPs from moths (Lepidoptera), six cysteine residues are highly conserved at positions 19, 50, 54, 97, 108 and 117, but to date nothing is known about their respective linkage or redox status. We used a multiple approach of enzymatic digestion, chemical cleavage, partial reduction with Tris-(2-carboxyethyl)phosphine, followed by digestion with endoproteinase Lys-C to determine the disulfide connectivity in the PBP from Bombyx mori (BmPBP).

Ecdysone has an effect on the regeneration of midgut epithelial cells that is distinct from 20-hydroxyecdysone in the silkworm Bombyx mori.

We investigated the effects of two ecdysteroids, ecdysone (E) and 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), on silkworm larval development. Silkworm larvae, Bombyx mori, were fed an artificial diet supplemented with 20E during the fourth instar to promote premature molting. At the onset of the fifth instar, these precocious fifth-instar larvae were fed diets supplemented with either E or 20E to determine the effects of the two ecdysteroids on the morphology of midgut epithelial cells.

Degradation of an alkaloid pheromone from the pale-brown chafer, Phyllopertha diversa (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), by an insect olfactory cytochrome P450.

The pale-brown chafer, Phyllopertha diversa, utilizes an unusual alkaloid, 1,3-dimethyl-2,4-(1H,3H)-quinazolinedione, as its sex pheromone. This compound is rapidly degraded in vitro by the antennal protein extracts from this scarab beetle. Demethylation at the N-1 position and hydroxylation of the aromatic ring have been identified as the major catabolic pathways.

Purification, cDNA cloning and modification of a defensin from the coconut rhinoceros beetle, Oryctes rhinoceros.

A novel member of the insect defensins, a family of antibacterial peptides, was purified from larvae of the coconut rhinoceros beetle, Oryctes rhinoceros, immunized with Escherichia coli. A full-size cDNA was cloned by combining reverse-transcription PCR (RT-PCR), and 5'- and 3'-rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). Analysis of the O.

Determining the nucleotide sequence and capsid-coding region of himetobi P virus: a member of a novel group of RNA viruses that infect insects.

We determined the complete genome sequence of Himetobi P virus (HiPV), an insect picorna-like virus, which was isolated from the small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus. The genome of HiPV consists of 9,275 nucleotides excluding the poly (A) tail, and contains two large open reading frames (ORFs), which were separated by a 176-nucleotide noncoding region. The deduced amino acid sequence of the first ORF contains core motifs of picornaviral helicase, protease, and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase.