title: Transcriptome analysis of the cowpea weevil bruchid: identification of putative proteinases and alpha-amylases associated with food breakdown.
abstract: We describe here the first systematic work to discover insect genes involved in food breakdown using a cDNA library enriched for gut-expressed transcripts from Callosobruchus maculatus. A total of 1056 clones were screened for cDNA insert-containing plasmids, and 503 nonredundant open reading frames were discovered. Twenty-three inferred genes potentially involved in digestive processes in cowpea weevil were identified, including proteinases and amylases. The predicted catalytic sites were identified in the inferred cysteine and aspartic acid proteinases, and in alpha-amylases. Transcriptome analysis of the cowpea bruchid will potentially permit gene discovery in other beetles, an insect order of major economic and ecological importance that is poorly represented in genomic databases.
authors.affiliation: Indiana Center for Insect Genomics (ICIG), University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA.
authors.forename: J H F
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Pedra
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brandt
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Westerman
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lobo
authors.forename: H-M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Romero-Severson
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Murdock
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Pittendrigh
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics*; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D000516:alpha-Amylases / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D019476:Insect Proteins; D000516:alpha-Amylases; D010450:Endopeptidases