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Molecular characterization of the ebony gene from the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana
Author(s) -
Blenau Wolfgang,
Baumann Arnd
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
archives of insect biochemistry and physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.576
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1520-6327
pISSN - 0739-4462
DOI - 10.1002/arch.20064
Subject(s) - periplaneta , biology , cockroach , biogenic amine , american cockroach , biochemistry , octopamine (neurotransmitter) , drosophila melanogaster , complementary dna , dopamine , tryptamine , calliphora , serotonin , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , endocrinology , receptor , ecology , botany , larva
Abstract Biogenic amines are an important class of primary messengers in the central (CNS) and peripheral nervous systems and in peripheral organs. These substances regulate and modulate many physiological and behavioral processes. Various inactivation mechanisms for these substances exist to terminate biogenic amine‐mediated signal transduction. In vertebrates, the enzymes monoamine oxidase and/or catechol‐ O ‐methyl‐transferase are involved in these processes. In insects, however, in which both enzymes are low in abundance or absent, biogenic amines are inactivated mainly by N ‐acetylation or O ‐sulphation. In Drosophila, β‐alanyl conjugation mediated by the Ebony protein has recently been shown to be a novel and alternative pathway for biogenic amine inactivation. Here, we report the cloning of ebony cDNA (Pea ebony ) from a brain‐specific cDNA library of the cockroach Periplaneta americana . The open reading frame encodes a protein of 860 amino acid residues (PeaEbony). The PeaEbony polypeptide shares homology to Ebony sequences from Anopheles gambiae, Apis mellifera , and Drosophila melanogaster. In addition, PeaEbony exhibits sequence similarity to a family of microbial non‐ribosomal peptide synthetases. The mRNA encoding PeaEbony is highly expressed in the cockroach brain and to a lesser extent in the salivary glands. PeaEbony is, therefore, probably involved in the inactivation of various biogenic amines through β‐alanyl conjugation in the cockroach CNS. Since the salivary glands in Periplaneta are innervated by dopaminergic and serotonergic neurons, PeaEbony probably also biochemically modifies dopamine and serotonin in these acinar glands. Arch. Insect Biochem. Physiol. 59:184–195, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.