title: Purification and characterization of biliverdin-binding protein from larval hemolymph of the swallowtail butterfly, Papilio xuthus L.
abstract: The biliverdin-binding protein from the larval hemolymph of the swallowtail butterfly, Papilio xuthus L., was purified and characterized. The crude biliverdin-binding protein, obtained by ammonium sulfate fractionation, was purified in two steps, the first one by gel filtration chromatography and the second one by ion-exchange chromatography. The molecular mass of the purified protein was analyzed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and estimated to be 21 kDa. The Namino terminal sequence of P. xuthus biliverdin-binding protein analyzed up to the 19th residue showed that 42% of the amino acid sequence are sequence similarity to the bilin-binding protein from Pieris brassicae. These results suggest that the P. xuthus biliverdin-binding protein belongs to the insecticyanin-type.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Biology and Informatics, Faculty of Science, Yamaguchi University, Japan. yamanaka@po.cc.yamaguchi-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamanaka
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Koga
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ochiai
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Endo
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D001664:Biliverdine / Q000378:metabolism; D002080:Butterflies; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D006458:Hemolymph / Q000737:chemistry*; D019476:Insect Proteins; D007447:Invertebrate Hormones / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D007814:Larva; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D019476:Insect Proteins; D007447:Invertebrate Hormones; C043409:insecticyanin protein, insect; D001664:Biliverdine