A novel aminopeptidase in the fat body of the moth Achaea janata as a receptor for Bacillus thuringiensis Cry toxins and its comparison with midgut aminopeptidase.

ABSTRACT: Bacillus thuringiensis insecticidal crystal proteins bind to cell-surface receptors which represent a family of aminopeptidases [APN (aminopeptidase N)] present on the brush border membrane of insect midgut cells of susceptible insects leading to pore formation and death of the insect. We report here for the first time the presence of a novel APN in the fat body of the moth Achaea janata. Northern blotting detected at least one APN-specific transcript in the fat body, whereas two transcripts of different sizes were detected in the midgut. We have cloned two full-length APN cDNAs of 3015 bp and 2850 bp from fat body and midgut respectively, which encode proteins of 1004 and 950 amino acids. These two APNs share only 33% amino acid sequence identity, but both display the typical APN features

SUBMITTER: Budatha M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1904524 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature