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Digestion of Yeasts and Beta-1,3-Glucanases in Mosquito Larvae: Physiological and Biochemical Considerations.

ABSTRACT: Aedes aegypti larvae ingest several kinds of microorganisms. In spite of studies regarding mosquito digestion, little is known about the nutritional utilization of ingested cells by larvae. We investigated the effects of using yeasts as the sole nutrient source for A. aegypti larvae. We also assessed the role of beta-1,3-glucanases in digestion of live yeast cells. Beta-1,3-glucanases are enzymes which hydrolyze the cell wall beta-1,3-glucan polyssacharide. Larvae were fed with cat food (controls), live or autoclaved Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells and larval weight, time for pupation and adult emergence, larval and pupal mortality were measured. The presence of S. cerevisiae cells inside the larval gut was demonstrated by light microscopy. Beta-1,3-glucanase was measured in dissected larval samples. Viability assays were performed with live yeast cells and larval gut homogenates, with or without addition of competing beta-1,3-glucan. A. aegypti larvae fed with yeast cells were heavier at the 4th instar and showed complete development with normal mortality rates. Yeast cells were efficiently ingested by larvae and quickly killed (10% death in 2 h, 100% in 48 h). Larvae showed beta-1,3-glucanase in head, gut and rest of body. Gut beta-1,3-glucanase was not derived from ingested yeast cells. Gut and rest of body activity was not affected by the yeast diet, but head homogenates showed a lower activity in animals fed with autoclaved S. cerevisiae cells. The enzymatic lysis of live S. cerevisiae cells was demonstrated using gut homogenates, and this activity was abolished when excess beta-1,3-glucan was added to assays. These results show that live yeast cells are efficiently ingested and hydrolyzed by A. aegypti larvae, which are able to fully-develop on a diet based exclusively on these organisms. Beta-1,3-glucanase seems to be essential for yeast lytic activity of A. aegypti larvae, which possess significant amounts of these enzyme in all parts investigated.

SUBMITTER: Souza RS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4805253 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Digestion of Yeasts and Beta-1,3-Glucanases in Mosquito Larvae: Physiological and Biochemical Considerations.

Souza Raquel Santos RS Diaz-Albiter Hector Manuel HM Dillon Vivian Maureen VM Dillon Rod J RJ Genta Fernando Ariel FA

PloS one 20160323 3

Aedes aegypti larvae ingest several kinds of microorganisms. In spite of studies regarding mosquito digestion, little is known about the nutritional utilization of ingested cells by larvae. We investigated the effects of using yeasts as the sole nutrient source for A. aegypti larvae. We also assessed the role of beta-1,3-glucanases in digestion of live yeast cells. Beta-1,3-glucanases are enzymes which hydrolyze the cell wall beta-1,3-glucan polyssacharide. Larvae were fed with cat food (control ...[more]

PMID: 27007411

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Project description:BackgroundThe fungal cell wall is an essential and robust external structure that protects the cell from the environment. It is mainly composed of polysaccharides with different functions, some of which are necessary for cell integrity. Thus, the process of fractionation and analysis of cell wall polysaccharides is useful for studying the function and relevance of each polysaccharide, as well as for developing a variety of practical and commercial applications. This method can be used to study the mechanisms that regulate cell morphogenesis and integrity, giving rise to information that could be applied in the design of new antifungal drugs. Nonetheless, for this method to be reliable, the availability of trustworthy commercial recombinant cell wall degrading enzymes with non-contaminating activities is vital.ResultsHere we examined the efficiency and reproducibility of 12 recombinant endo-β(1,3)-D-glucanases for specifically degrading the cell wall β(1,3)-D-glucan by using a fast and reliable protocol of fractionation and analysis of the fission yeast cell wall. This protocol combines enzymatic and chemical degradation to fractionate the cell wall into the four main polymers: galactomannoproteins, α-glucan, β(1,3)-D-glucan and β(1,6)-D-glucan. We found that the GH16 endo-β(1,3)-D-glucanase PfLam16A from Pyrococcus furiosus was able to completely and reproducibly degrade β(1,3)-D-glucan without causing the release of other polymers. The cell wall degradation caused by PfLam16A was similar to that of Quantazyme, a recombinant endo-β(1,3)-D-glucanase no longer commercially available. Moreover, other recombinant β(1,3)-D-glucanases caused either incomplete or excessive degradation, suggesting deficient access to the substrate or release of other polysaccharides.ConclusionsThe discovery of a reliable and efficient recombinant endo-β(1,3)-D-glucanase, capable of replacing the previously mentioned enzyme, will be useful for carrying out studies requiring the digestion of the fungal cell wall β(1,3)-D-glucan. This new commercial endo-β(1,3)-D-glucanase will allow the study of the cell wall composition under different conditions, along the cell cycle, in response to environmental changes or in cell wall mutants. Furthermore, this enzyme will also be greatly valuable for other practical and commercial applications such as genome research, chromosomes extraction, cell transformation, protoplast formation, cell fusion, cell disruption, industrial processes and studies of new antifungals that specifically target cell wall synthesis.

Project description:Four types of ?-1,3-1,4 glucanase (?-glucanase, EC 3.2.1.73) genes, designated bglA13, bglA16, bglA51, and bglM2, were found in the cDNA library of Neocallimastix patriciarum J11. All were highly homologous with each other and demonstrated a close phylogenetic relationship with and a similar codon bias to Streptococcus equinus. The presence of expansion and several predicted secondary structures in the 3' untranslated regions (3'UTRs) of bglA16 and bglM2 suggest that these two genes were duplicated recently, whereas bglA13 and bglA16, which contain very short 3'UTRs, were replicated earlier. These findings indicate that the ?-glucanase genes from N. patriciarum J11 may have arisen by horizontal transfer from the bacterium and subsequent duplication in the rumen fungus. ?-Glucanase genes of Streptococcus equinus, Ruminococcus albus 7, and N. patriciarum J11 were cloned and expressed by Escherichia coli. The recombinant ?-glucanases cloned from S. equinus, R. albus 7, and N. patriciarum J11 were endo-acting and had similar substrate specificity, but they demonstrated different properties in other tests. The specific activities and catalytic efficiency of the bacterial ?-glucanases were also significantly lower than those of the fungal ?-glucanases. Our results also revealed that the activities and some characteristics of enzymes were changed during the horizontal gene transfer event. The specific activities of the fungal ?-glucanases ranged from 26,529 to 41,209 U/mg of protein when barley-derived ?-glucan was used as the substrate. They also demonstrated similar pH and temperature optima, substrate specificity, substrate affinity, and hydrolysis patterns. Nevertheless, BglA16 and BglM2, two recently duplicated ?-glucanases, showed much higher k(cat) values than others. These results support the notion that duplicated ?-glucanase genes, namely, bglA16 and bglM2, increase the reaction efficiency of ?-glucanases and suggest that the catalytic efficiency of ?-glucanase is likely to be a criterion determining the evolutionary fate of duplicate forms in N. patriciarum J11.

Dataset Information

Digestion of Yeasts and Beta-1,3-Glucanases in Mosquito Larvae: Physiological and Biochemical Considerations.

Publications

Digestion of Yeasts and Beta-1,3-Glucanases in Mosquito Larvae: Physiological and Biochemical Considerations.

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