The Cytochrome C Oxidase of the House Fly, Musca Domestica L

Abstract

1. Insoluble and "soluble" forms of cytochrome c oxidase were prepared from house flies by methods described for mammalian tissue. A 4.5-fold purification was accomplished by preparing the enzyme in insoluble form (as compared with a crude water brei). The oxidase in "soluble" form was purified 20.0-fold. 2. The absorption spectrum of the "soluble" preparation from flies was similar to that from mammalian tissue, and indicated the presence of cytochromes a + a3 and b. In contrast with the corresponding mammalian enzymes these components were not separable by the existing techniques. 3. The Soret peak seen at 440 mµ and the alpha peak at 600 mµ were due. primarily to cytochromes a3 and a, respectively. 4. The oxidase activity of whole house flies was comparable with that of rat abdominal muscle. In both organisms, this activity was inhibited by cyanide to approximately the same extent. 5. The optimum buffer concentration for oxidase activity, as measured spectrophotometrically, was approximately 0.02 to 0.06 M. This is in agreement with results obtained for mammalian enzyme, as measured both manometrically and spectrophotometrically. 6. The present study has demonstrated the following components of the cytochrome system in house flies: b, c, a, and a3.

Comparative Physiology: Fuel of Muscle Metabolism

“…It was found that the cytochrome-c turnover number was over 5000, once for every two wing beat cycles! Subsequent studies dealt further with the cytochrome system in mitochondria of the housefly Musca domestica (84, 85), and the existence of the citric acid cycle was established in sarcosomes of Locusta migratoria (86), Aedes aegypti (87), the honey bee Apis mellifera (88), the adult black blowfly Phormia regina (89), and the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria (90). The succinoxidase sys tem has been studied in the woodroach Leucophaea modera,e (91) and suc cinic dehydrogenase in mitochondria from Periplaneta americana (92,93).…”

Oxidative Enzymes in the Thoracic Muscles of the Woodroach Leucophaea Maderae

“…They found that the succinoxidase activity of muscle from the male cockroach is three times that of muscle from the female. Spirtes (1951) demonstrated the presence of Krebs cycle enzymes such as aconitase, isocitric, malic and succinic dehydrogenases, fumarase and condensing enzyme, and also cytochrome oxidase and lactic dehydrogenase in the tissues of Drosophila melanogaster ; and Bodenstein and Sacktor (1952) studied the cytochrome oxidase during metamorphosis of Drosophila virilis; Sacktor (1951aSacktor ( , 1951bSacktor ( , 1952 reported on the cytochrome oxidase activity of normal and DDT resistant house flies, Musca domestica; Sanborn and Williams (1950) studied the cytochrome system in the tissues of the Cecropia silkworm; Watanabe and Williams (1951) showed that succinic, a-glycerophosphate, malic and pyruvic dehydrogenases and cytochrome oxidase are present in the sarcosomes of insect muscles ; and Collias, McShan and Lilly (1952) reported results of studies on the succinoxidase and cytochrome oxidase systems in the tissues of the large milkweed bug, Oncopeltus jasdatus. Bodine, Lu and West (1952) found marked differences in the succinoxidase activity in mitotically active and blocked cells of the developing embryo of the grasshopper, Mclanoplus differential's.…”