Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), together with sphingosine 1-phosphate, is a bioactive lipid mediator that acts on G-protein-coupled receptors to evoke multiple cellular responses, including Ca(2+) mobilization, modulation of adenylyl cyclase, and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase activation. In this study, we isolated a human cDNA encoding a novel G-protein-coupled receptor, designated EDG7, ...

Histone H3-lysine(9) (H3K9) trimethyltransferase gene Su(var) 3-9 was cloned and identified in three Spodoptera insects, Spodopterafrugiperda (S. frugiperda), S. exigua and S. litura. Sequence analysis showed that Spodoptera Su(var) 3-9 is highly conserved evolutionarily. Su(var) 3-9 protein was found to be localized in the nucleus in Sf9 cells, and interact with histone H3, and the heterochrom...

Spodoptera frugiperda SF9 cells infected with mutants of the Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) which lack a functional p35 gene undergo apoptosis, aborting the viral infection. The Spodoptera littoralis nucleopolyhedrovirus (SlNPV) was able to suppress apoptosis triggered by vDeltaP35K/pol+, an AcMNPV p35 null mutant. To identify the putative apoptotic suppressor gene of SlNP...

The phosphorylation sites on the human, 85-kDa cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) were identified using recombinant cPLA2 expressed in Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) cells. Analysis by high performance liquid chromatography of tryptic digests of 32P-labeled recombinant cPLA2 showed four major peaks of radiolabeled phosphopeptides. The phosphorylated residues were identified as Ser-437, Ser-454, Se...

Abstract The European grapevine moth, Lobesia botrana , uses ( E Z )-7,9-dodecadienyl acetate as its major sex pheromone component. Through in vivo labeling experiments we demonstrated that the doubly unsaturated component is produced by ?11 desaturation of tetradecanoic acid, followed chain shortening )-11-tetradecenoic acid to )-9-dodecenoic and subsequently introduction second double bond an...

The melanoma differentiation associated gene-7 (mda-7), also known as interleukin-24 (IL-24) is a novel cytokine, which exhibits both tumor suppressing and immunostimulatory activities. Mda-7 has the ability to restrain growth and induce programmed cell death (apoptosis) in a wide variety of human cancer cells without having similar effects on normal cells. This study was performed to investiga...