Animal tissues need to be properly oxygenated for carrying out catabolic respiration and, as such, natural selection has presumably favored special molecules that can reversibly bind and transport oxygen. Hemoglobins, hemocyanins, and hemerythrins (Hrs) fulfill this role, with Hrs being the least studied. Knowledge of oxygen-binding proteins is crucial for understanding animal physiology. Hr ge...

The digestion of lignocellulose is attracting attention both in terms of basic research into its metabolism by microorganisms and animals, and also as a means of converting plant biomass into biofuels. Limnoriid wood borers are unusual because, unlike other wood-feeding animals, they do not rely on symbiotic microbes to help digest lignocellulose. The absence of microbes in the digestive tract ...

participate in different ways in the assembly of the complex. The positioning of a subunit in the complex may be crucial to its function. The dynamic equilibrium between various assembly states of a heteropolymer cannot be treated as if the assembly involves structurally homogeneous elements whose association reactions can be described by a single interaction constant. On the contrary, each sta...

Arthropod hemocyanins and phenoloxidases serve different physiological functions as oxygen transporters and enzymes involved in defense reactions, respectively. However, they are equipped with a structurally similar oxygen-binding center. We have shown that the clotting enzyme of the horseshoe crab, Tachypleus tridentatus, functionally converts hemocyanin to phenoloxidase by forming a complex w...

SYNOPSIS. The exoskeleton of crustaceans and insects is formed by cells of the hypodermis, but several hemolymph proteins contribute to the synthesis of the new exoskeleton. These hemolymph proteins share a surprising degree of sequence similarity and are members of the hemocyanin gene family. Copper-containing prophenoloxidases of crustaceans and insects are directly involved in cross-linking ...

The migratory locust is one of the most notorious agricultural pests that undergo a well known reversible, density-dependent phase transition from the solitary to the gregarious. To demonstrate the underlying molecular mechanisms of the phase change, we generated 76,012 ESTs from the whole body and dissected organs in the two phases. Comparing 12,161 unigene clusters, we identified 532 genes as...

crustacean hemocyanins represent a unique case of molecular heterogeneity among oxygen-carrying proteins. two populations of gammarus lacustris and six populations of gammarus komareki were identified and isolated from aquatic habitats of ardabil (northwest of iran). the populations were nominated based on name of isolated region. principal component analysis of morphological absolute attribute...

Hemocyanin is a copper-containing protein which occurs in the blood of a number of species of arthropods and molusks. The extent of the reversible combination with molecular oxygen is a function of the partial pressure of oxygen, and like the formation of oxyhemoglobin is affected by changes in acidity and salt concentration. The ratio of combined molecular oxygen to copper is 02:2Cu in all the...

The parasitic flatworm Schistosoma mansoni, causative agent of human intestinal schistosomiasis in South America, relies importantly on the freshwater snail Biomphalaria glabrata as intermediate host to achieve development of cercariae that infect humans. The recommendation from the World Health Organization (WHO) to integrate snail control in efforts to counter schistosomiasis transmission pro...

Oxygen has a very low solubility in aqueous solutions, and with rare exceptions we find that oxygen is carried in the circulation almost entirely in combination with a special oxygen-binding protein. Four main types of such proteins are found in the animal kingdom: hemoglobins, chlorocruorins, hemerythrins, and hemocyanins. The most widely distributed in the animal kingdom are the hemoglobins, ...