Enzymatic control of anhydrobiosis-related accumulation of trehalose in the sleeping chironomid, Polypedilum vanderplanki.

ABSTRACT: Larvae of an anhydrobiotic insect, Polypedilum vanderplanki, accumulate very large amounts of trehalose as a compatible solute on desiccation, but the molecular mechanisms underlying this accumulation are unclear. We therefore isolated the genes coding for trehalose metabolism enzymes, i.e. trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TPS) and trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (TPP) for the synthesis step, and trehalase (TREH) for the degradation step. Although computational prediction indicated that the alternative splicing variants (PvTpsα/β) obtained encoded probable functional motifs consisting of a typical consensus domain of TPS and a conserved sequence of TPP, PvTpsα did not exert activity as TPP, but only as TPS. Instead, a distinct gene (PvTpp) obtained expressed TPP activity. Previous reports

SUBMITTER: Mitsumasu K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3037560 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature