Article
Expression of active trypsin-like serine peptidases in the midgut of sugar-feeding female Anopheles aquasalis
Registro en:
LOPES, Geovane Dias; et al. Expression of active trypsin-like serine peptidases in the midgut of sugar-feeding female Anopheles aquasalis. Parasites & Vectors, v.8:296, 10p, 2015.
1756-3305
10.1186/s13071-015-0908-0
Autor
Lopes, Geovane Dias
Veloso, Andre Borges
Vahia, Leonardo Saboia
Domont, Gilberto B.
Britto, Constança
Cuervo, Patricia
Jesus, José Batista de
Resumen
Background: Anopheles aquasalis is a dipteran of the family Culicidae that is widely distributed in the coastal
regions of South and Central America. This species acts as a vector of Plasmodium vivax, an important etiological
agent of malaria, which represents a serious public health problem. In mosquitoes, trypsin-like serine proteases are
important in blood meal digestion, immune responses and reproductive functions. The study of peptidases
expressed in the mosquito midgut is essential to understanding the mechanisms of parasite-host interaction and
the physiological process of nutrient digestion.
Methods: Our study aimed to identify and characterize the proteolytic activities in the midgut of sugar-fed
An. aquasalis females using zymographic analyses (substrate-SDS-PAGE), in-solution assays and mass spectrometry.
Results: Here, we used a zymographic analysis to further biochemically characterize the proteolytic profile of the
midgut of sugar-feeding An. aquasalis females. The trypsin peptidases migrated between ~17 and ~76 kDa and
displayed higher proteolytic activities between pH 7.5 and 10 and at temperatures between 37 °C and 50 °C. Four
putative trypsin-like serine peptidases were identified using mass spectrometry and data mining. The molecular
masses of these peptidases were similar to those observed using zymography, which suggested that these
peptidases could be responsible for some of the observed proteolytic bands.
Conclusions: Taken together, our results contribute to the gene annotation of the unknown genome of this
species, to the tissue location of these peptidases, and to the functional prediction of these crucial enzymes, which
all impact further studies of this species.