Few serious attempts have been made to study either alterations of active ion transport during ontogenic development or the developmental consequences of altered ion environments within and around cells (see Kroeger, 1966 and Harvey & Haskell, 1966 for references). Nevertheless, to cite but a few examples of the importance of the ionic mileau for molecular activities associated with development...

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) from nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidases and their related dual oxidases are known to have significant roles in innate immunity and cell proliferation. In this study, the 5,545 bp cDNA of the silkworm Bombyx mori dual oxidase (BmDuox) gene containing a full-length open reading frame was cloned. It was shown to include an N-terminal signal p...

Microevolutionary mechanisms of resistance to a bacterial pathogen were explored in a population of the Greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella, selected for an 8.8-fold increased resistance against the entomopathogenic bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) compared with a non-selected (suspectible) line. Defense strategies of the resistant and susceptible insect lines were compared to uncover me...

Active solute uptake in bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals is known to be mediated by cotransporters that are driven by Na+ or H+ gradients. The present work extends the Na+ and H+ dogma by including the H+ and K+ paradigm. Lepidopteran insect larvae have a high K+ and a low Na+ content, and their midgut cells lack Na+/K+ ATPase. Instead, an H+ translocating, vacuolar-type ATPase generates a ...

Plasmodium ookinete invasion of the mosquito midgut is a crucial step of the parasite life cycle but little is known about the molecular mechanisms involved. Previously, a phage display peptide library screen identified SM1, a peptide that binds to the mosquito midgut epithelium and inhibits ookinete invasion. SM1 was characterized as a mimotope of an ookinete surface enolase and SM1 presumably...

The midgut microbiota associated with Anopheles stephensi and Anopheles maculipennis (Diptera: Culicidae) was investigated for development of a paratransgenesis-based approach to control malaria transmission in Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). Here, we present the results of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and biochemical-based approaches to identify the female adult and larvae mosquitoe m...

The spectrum of Tenebrio molitor larval digestive proteinases was studied in the context of the spatial organization of protein digestion in the midgut. The pH of midgut contents increased from 5.2-5.6 to 7.8-8.2 from the anterior to the posterior. This pH gradient was reflected in the pH optima of the total proteolytic activity, 5.2 in the anterior and 9.0 in the posterior midgut. When measure...

We have previously demonstrated the involvement of carbonic anhydrase (CA) in larval mosquito midgut physiology. In this study, we used Hansson's histochemistry to examine the distribution of the enzyme in the midgut of Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, Culex quinquefasciatus, Culex nigripalpus, Ochlerotatus taeniorhynchus, Anopheles albimanus and Anopheles quadrimaculatus adult mosquitoes. Addi...