Developmental regulation of tryptophan catabolism in Drosophila

Sullivan, David T.; Kitos, Robert J.

doi:10.1016/0020-1790(76)90015-9

Cited by 11 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Tryptophan oxygenases have been identified and cloned from a number of non-lepidopteran insects and have long been known to play a key role in the ommochrome eye pigmentation (Summers et al, 1982). In addition to the synthesis of pigment, the primary function of tryptophan oxygenase may actually be to degrade excess tryptophan that occurs during times of high protein turnover (Sullivan and Kitos, 1976). The importance of tryptophan oxygenase for survival in P.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RNAi-induced silencing of embryonic tryptophan oxygenase in the Pyralid moth, Plodia interpunctella

Fabrick

Kanost

Baker³

2004

Journal of Insect Science

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Gene silencing through the introduction of double-stranded RNA (RNA interference, RNAi) provides a powerful tool for the elucidation of gene function in many systems, including those where genomics and proteomics are incomplete. The use of RNAi technology for gene silencing in Lepidoptera has lacked significant attention compared to other systems. To demonstrate that RNAi can be utilized in the lepidopteran, Plodia interpunctella, we cloned a cDNA for tryptophan oxygenase, and showed that silencing of tryptophan oxygenase through RNAi during embryonic development resulted in loss of eye-color pigmentation. The complete amino acid sequence of Plodia tryptophan oxygenase can be accessed through NCBI Protein Database under NCBI Accession # AY427951.AbbreviationRNAiRNA interferencePCRpolymerase chain reactionRT-PCRreverse transcription-PCR

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RNAi-induced silencing of embryonic tryptophan oxygenase in the Pyralid moth, Plodia interpunctella

Fabrick

Kanost

Baker³

2004

Journal of Insect Science

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“…As shown in white individuals of vertebrates or invertebrates (Quevedo et al, 1987;Tearle, 1991), at least two genes may be involved in the expression of albinism. Xanthommatin is derived from tryptophan via the ommochrome biosynthetic pathway consisting of four steps (Tearle, 1991), of which several mutations in the eyes or ocelli of Dromphila have been described (Sullivan and Kitos, 1976;Wiley and Forrest, 1981; Tearle, 1991). It may be possible that the white phenotype of A. vulgare is defective in some enzyme activity associated with the ommo-chrome biosynthetic pathway.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphological Characterization of Three Phenotypes of the Isopod Armadillidium vulgare

Negishi

Hasegawa

Martin

et al. 1994

Pigment Cell Research

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The morphological characteristics and ommochrome quantity in the integument of red, white, and wild type (black-grey) Armadillidium vulgare were studied. The red phenotype was found to possess two kinds of immature ommochrome pigment granules within its pigment cells, in addition to mature pigment granules. The immature granules seemed to contain uniformly distributed fibrilles, or to have an electron-dense central region surrounded by an electron-lucent outer edge. Since these immature pigment granules were typically observed to be distributed along with the mature ones, and were also more easily extractable than the wild type's, it is hypothesized that ommochrome granule maturation in the red phenotype may occur slowly due to a defect in the pigment granule internal process which combines pigments with matrix proteins. Regarding the white phenotype, although its pigment cells were undeveloped, several large-sized vesicles containing a small amount of electron-dense material appeared in the pigment cell cytoplasm. The wild and red type males of A. vulgare were found to have an ommochrome content twice as large as that of the corresponding females, with no ommochrome pigment being detected in the white phenotype. The genetic relationship between the white and red phenotypes was discussed using as a basis the observed pigment granule structure.

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“…The levels of tryptophan and kynurenine in white dsRNA-treated adults did not differ from untreated controls while the levels of both metabolites were higher in first instar nymphs of white dsRNA treated females than in wild type nymphs. Previously, Drosophila mutants showed that the activity of vermilion encoded enzyme (tryptophan oxygenase) could be controlled by the concentration of kynurenine and that this enzyme is rate limiting in the catabolism of tryptophan 16 . Although the precise regulatory mechanisms remain uncertain, our results suggest that differential regulation of vermillion may be a SGSB response to white transcript knockdown that prevented tryptophan and kynurenine accumulation in adults.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

RNAi-induced knockdown of white gene in the southern green stink bug (Nezara viridula L.)

Souza

Christensen

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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The southern green stink bug (SGSB) Nezara viridula L. is one of the most common stink bug species in the United States and can cause significant yield loss in a variety of crops. A suitable marker for the assessment of gene-editing tools in SGSB has yet to be characterized. The white gene, first documented in Drosophila, has been a useful target to assess the efficiency of introduced mutations in many species as it controls pigmentation processes and mutants display readily identifiable phenotypes. In this study we used the RNAi technique to investigate functions and phenotypes associated with the white ortholog in the SGSB and to validate white as a marker for genetic transformation in this species. This study revealed that white may be a suitable marker for germline transformation in the SGSB as white transcript knockdown was not lethal, did not impair embryo development and provided a distinguishable phenotype. Our results demonstrated that the white ortholog in SGSB is involved in the pathway for ommochrome synthesis and suggested additional functions of this gene such as in the integument composition, management of hemolymph compounds and riboflavin mobilization.

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Developmental regulation of tryptophan catabolism in Drosophila

Cited by 11 publications

References 13 publications

RNAi-induced silencing of embryonic tryptophan oxygenase in the Pyralid moth, Plodia interpunctella

RNAi-induced silencing of embryonic tryptophan oxygenase in the Pyralid moth, Plodia interpunctella

Morphological Characterization of Three Phenotypes of the Isopod Armadillidium vulgare

RNAi-induced knockdown of white gene in the southern green stink bug (Nezara viridula L.)

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