Premium
Aedes aegypti midgut early trypsin is post‐transcriptionally regulated by blood feeding
Author(s) -
Noriega F. G.,
Pennington J. E.,
BarillasMury C.,
Wang X. Y.,
Wells M. A.
Publication year - 1996
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 - 10.1111/j.1365-2583.1996.tb00037.x
Subject(s) - midgut , trypsin , biology , blood meal , aedes aegypti , messenger rna , protease , meal , digestion (alchemy) , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , larva , gene , enzyme , chemistry , botany , food science , chromatography
Early trypsin is a female‐specific protease present in the Aedes aegypti midgut during the first hours after ingestion of a blood meal. Early trypsin gene expression was studied by Northern blot analysis. The early trypsin mRNA, absent in larvae, pupae and newly emerged females, reaches detectable levels at 24 h post‐emergence and attains a maximum level at an adult age of 4–7 days. After the first week there is a decrease in the steady‐state level of the transcript, but it remains readily detectable for up to a month after emergence. Despite the high levels of early trypsin mRNA present in the midgut of the unfed female, translation of the early trypsin mRNA occurs only after a blood or a protein meal. Early trypsin mRNA levels rapidly decrease during the first 24 h after feeding, but the steady‐state level of the transcript rises again at the end of the blood digestion cycle (60 h), as the mosquito prepares for a second blood meal.