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Isolation and expression of a sterol carrier protein‐2 gene from the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti
Author(s) -
Krebs K. C.,
Lan Q.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
insect molecular biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.955
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-2583
pISSN - 0962-1075
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2583.2003.00386.x
Subject(s) - aedes aegypti , biology , sterol , midgut , complementary dna , cholesterol , recombinant dna , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , gene , larva , botany
Trafficking of cholesterol in insects is a very important process due to the fact that insects depend on dietary cholesterol to fulfil their physiological needs. We identified a putative mosquito sterol carrier protein‐2 (SCP‐2) cDNA from fourth instar subtracted cDNA library. The AeSCP‐2 protein has high degree homology in the sterol transfer domain to both rat and human SCP‐2. Transcripts of AeSCP‐2 in fourth instars were detected strongly in the midgut, and weakly in the head and hindgut. In the early pupae, AeSCP‐2 transcription was observed in the thorax, head and body wall of abdomen, but not in the gut. The interaction of mosquito sterol carrier protein‐2 (AeSCP‐2) with cholesterol was examined. The K d of purified recombinant AeSCP‐2 to cholesterol was 5.6 ± 0.6 × 10 −9 m using radiolabelled cholesterol‐binding assay. The results suggest that AeSCP‐2 has high affinity to cholesterol and may function as a carrier protein in mosquitoes.