An insight into the sialotranscriptome of the seed-feeding bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus.
The salivary transcriptome of the seed-feeding hemipteran, Oncopeltus fasciatus (milkweed bug), is described following assembly of 1025 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) into 305 clusters of related sequences. Inspection of these sequences reveals abundance of low complexity, putative secreted products rich in the amino acids (aa) glycine, serine or threonine, which might function as silk or mucins and assist food canal lubrication and sealing of the feeding site around the mouthparts. Several protease inhibitors were found, including abundant expression of cystatin transcripts that may inhibit cysteine proteases common in seeds that might injure the insect or induce plant apoptosis. Serine proteases and lipases are described that might assist digestion and liquefaction of seed proteins and oils. Finally, several novel putative proteins are described with no known function that might affect plant physiology or act as antimicrobials.
Francischetti
Ivo M B
IM
Section of Vector Biology, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 12735 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, MD 20852, USA.
Lopes
Angela H
AH
Dias
Felipe A
FA
Pham
Van M
VM
Ribeiro
José M C
JM
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D015891:Cystatins / Q000235:genetics*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D020062:Heteroptera / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012463:Saliva / Q000502:physiology; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000502:physiology; D012471:Salivary Proteins and Peptides / Q000235:genetics; D012639:Seeds; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D015891:Cystatins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D012471:Salivary Proteins and Peptides