title: The cockroach Blattella germanica obtains nitrogen from uric acid through a metabolic pathway shared with its bacterial endosymbiont.
abstract: Uric acid stored in the fat body of cockroaches is a nitrogen reservoir mobilized in times of scarcity. The discovery of urease in Blattabacterium cuenoti, the primary endosymbiont of cockroaches, suggests that the endosymbiont may participate in cockroach nitrogen economy. However, bacterial urease may only be one piece in the entire nitrogen recycling process from insect uric acid. Thus, in addition to the uricolytic pathway to urea, there must be glutamine synthetase assimilating the released ammonia by the urease reaction to enable the stored nitrogen to be metabolically usable. None of the Blattabacterium genomes sequenced to date possess genes encoding for those enzymes. To test the host's contribution to the process, we have sequenced and analysed Blattella germanica transcriptomes from the fat body. We identified transcripts corresponding to all genes necessary for the synthesis of uric acid and its catabolism to urea, as well as for the synthesis of glutamine, asparagine, proline and glycine, i.e. the amino acids required by the endosymbiont. We also explored the changes in gene expression with different dietary protein levels. It appears that the ability to use uric acid as a nitrogen reservoir emerged in cockroaches after its age-old symbiotic association with bacteria.
authors: InstitutCavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolutiva, Universitat de València, C/Catedràtic José Beltrán n° 2, Paterna 46980, Spain.
authors: Rafael
authors: R
authors: Patiño-Navarrete
authors: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta n° 37-49, Barcelona 08003, Spain.
authors: Maria-Dolors
authors: MD
authors: Piulachs
authors: Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta n° 37-49, Barcelona 08003, Spain.
authors: Xavier
authors: X
authors: Belles
authors: InstitutCavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolutiva, Universitat de València, C/Catedràtic José Beltrán n° 2, Paterna 46980, Spain.
authors: Andrés
authors: A
authors: Moya
authors: InstitutCavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolutiva, Universitat de València, C/Catedràtic José Beltrán n° 2, Paterna 46980, Spain amparo.latorre@uv.es.
authors: Amparo
authors: A
authors: Latorre
authors: InstitutCavanilles de Biodiversitat i Biologia Evolutiva, Universitat de València, C/Catedràtic José Beltrán n° 2, Paterna 46980, Spain Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Universitat de València, Burjassot 46100, Spain juli.pereto@uv.es.
authors: Juli
authors: J
authors: Peretó
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D041963:Bacteroidetes / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D020048:Blattellidae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004044:Dietary Proteins; D005216:Fat Body / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D049750:Genome, Insect; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D013559:Symbiosis; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D004044:Dietary Proteins; D014527:Uric Acid; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Blattabacterium; asparagine; glutamine; glycine; nitrogen metabolism; proline