title: Molecular and functional characterization of granulin-like molecules of insects.
abstract: Granulins are a group of highly conserved growth factors that have been described from a variety of organisms spanning the metazoa. Here, we report on the identification of two partial transcripts encoding granulin-like molecules from Aa23 embryonic cells of Aedes albopictus and primary haemocytes from Manduca sexta. Both these partial transcripts had the characteristic 12-cysteine motif that is a hallmark of the granulin family and they represent the first granulin mRNA transcripts identified from insects. Moreover, we demonstrate that the recombinant granulin molecule that we originally cloned in the goldfish, induced proliferation of both Aa23 embryonic cells and primary haemocytes. Interestingly, this proliferative effect was upregulated in the presence of the intracellular symbiotic bacterium Wolbachia pipientis. Thus, granulin appears to be a highly conserved growth factor not only in lower vertebrates but also invertebrates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6E2E9.
authors.forename: Patrick C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Hanington
authors.forename: Lesley J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Brennan
authors.forename: Miodrag
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Belosevic
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Andrew Keddie
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000378:metabolism*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D006054:Goldfish / Q000378:metabolism*; D006434:Hemocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D018402:Manduca / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D000077153:Progranulins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D040681:Structural Homology, Protein
chemical_list: D019476:Insect Proteins; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D000077153:Progranulins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins