Yuko Ishida

Research Institute of Bioluminous Organisms in Hachijojima

Soldiers of some eusocial insects exhibit an altruistic self-destructive defense behavior in emergency situations when attacked by large enemies. The swarm-forming invasive millipede, Chamberlinius hualienensis, which is not classified as eusocial animal, exudes irritant chemicals such as benzoyl cyanide as a defensive secretion. Although it has be...

Significance Worker ants are responsible for various tasks for their colony. In their chemical communication, odorant-binding proteins and chemosensory proteins, which accumulate in the sensillum lymph in the antennae, play roles in transporting semiochemicals to chemosensory receptors. However, the number of these proteins is not sufficient to int...

We have isolated, cloned, and expressed a male antennae-specific pheromone-degrading enzyme (PDE) [Antheraea polyphemus PDE (ApolPDE), formerly known as Sensillar Esterase] from the wild silkmoth, A. polyphemus, which seems essential for the rapid inactivation of pheromone during flight. The onset of enzymatic activity was detected at day 13 of the...

Ants are found in various ecological environments on the earth. To maintain the colony, worker ants have developed a highly sophisticated chemical communication system to detect semiochemicals, which convey information in a task-specific manner. Invasive ants cause economic damage and disrupt ecosystems. To control the ants, it is important to deve...

The invasive millipede, Chamberlinius hualienensis, has been expanding its habitat from Okinawa to Kagoshima, Shizuoka, and Hachijojima, Tokyo, within a short period of time. It is thought that the animals in the three places had come from the same original population. ChuaHNL consists of 5 exons: 16-123, 186-316, 370-440, 499-594, and 653-798. The...

A hydroxynitrile lyase from the passion fruit, Passiflora edulis (PeHNL) was isolated from the leaves and showed high stability in biphasic co-organic solvent systems for cyanohydrin synthesis. Cyanohydrins are important building blocks for the production of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Thus, to enhance production yields of PeHNL for industr...

Hydroxynitrile lyase (HNL) catalyzes the degradation of cyanohydrins and causes the release of hydrogen cyanide (cyanogenesis). HNL can enantioselectively produce cyanohydrins, which are valuable building blocks for the synthesis of fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and is used as an important biocatalyst in industrial biotechnology. Currently, H...

Significance Pheromone recognition by insect olfactory organs is critical for the ability of insects to locate mates. The silkworm moth Bombyx mori has long served as a model organism for studies of this process. Key components in the sensory organs have been identified, including the pheromone bombykol, pheromone-binding protein (BmorPBP), ligand-...

The navel orangeworm, Amyelois transitella is a major agricultural pest causing large losses in a variety of tree crops. Control of this insect pest may be achieved by interfering with olfactory pathways to block detection of female-produced sex pheromones and consequently, disrupt mating. The first component of this pathway is the pheromone-bindin...

Blowflies are economic pests of the wool industry and potential vectors for epidemics. The establishment of a pesticide-free, environmentally friendly blowfly control strategy is necessary. Blowflies must feed on meat in order to initiate the cascade of events that are involved in reproduction including juvenile hormone synthesis, vitellogenesis, a...

MALDI TOF mass spectrometry of recombinant PregOBP56a. (PPT)

Mass-finger printing of recombinant PregOBP56a. A, Mass-fingerprinting of recombinant PregOBP56a. Molecular weight and corresponding positions were represented. Peaks with asterisks were [M+Na]+ions. B, Tryptic fragments of PregOBP56a. Identified fragments were represented in bold letters. (PPT)

cDNA and deduced amino acid sequences of aquaporin 1 from the blowfly Phormia regina (PregAQP1). Consensus aspargine-proline-alanine (NPA) motifs are boxed. Six transmembrane domains (I-VI) predicted by the SOSUI are underlined. The asterisk indicates a stop codon.

The high sensitivity and selectivity of perireceptor events in insect olfactory organs requires the concerted action of odorant-binding proteins (OBPs), odorant receptors (ORs), and odorant-degrading enzymes (ODEs). Sensillum lymph in the sensillum cavity is a physiological saline that not only mediates the olfactory signaling pathway described abo...

Synthetic mosquito oviposition attractants are sorely needed for surveillance and control programs for Culex species, which are major vectors of pathogens causing various human diseases, including filariasis, encephalitis, and West Nile encephalomyelitis. We employed novel and conventional chemical ecology approaches to identify potential attractan...

Culex mosquitoes introduce the pathogens responsible for filariasis, West Nile virus, St. Louis encephalitis, and other diseases into humans. Currently, traps baited with oviposition semiochemicals play an important role in detection efforts and could provide an environmentally friendly approach to controlling their populations. The odorant binding...

General odorant-binding proteins (GOBPs) of moths are postulated to be involved in the reception of semiochemicals other than sex pheromones, the so-called "general odorants." We have expressed two GOBPs, AtraGOBP1 and AtraGOBP2, which were previously isolated from the antennae of the navel orangeworm, Amyelois transitella. Surprisingly, these two...

The navel orangeworm, Amyelois transitella (Walker), is an agricultural insect pest that can be controlled by disrupting male-female communication with sex pheromones, a technique known as mating disruption. Insect pheromone-binding proteins (PBPs) provide fast transport of hydrophobic pheromones through the aqueous sensillar lymph and promote sens...

An odorant-binding protein from the Southern house mosquito, Culex pipiens quinquefasciatus (Cqui-OBP1) binds to the mosquito oviposition pheromone (MOP), 6-acetoxy-5-hexadecanolide to facilitate the transport of MOP to membrane-bound odorant receptors. We report complete NMR chemical shift assignments of Cqui-OBP1 bound to the MOP pheromone obtain...

The yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, is the primary vector for the viruses that cause yellow fever, mostly in tropical regions of Africa and in parts of South America, and human dengue, which infects 100 million people yearly in the tropics and subtropics. A better understanding of the structural biology of olfactory proteins may pave the way...

The navel orangeworm, Amyelois transitella Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), is the most serious insect pest of almonds and pistachios in California for which environmentally friendly alternative methods of control--like pheromone-based approaches--are highly desirable. Some constituents of the sex pheromone are unstable and could be replaced with p...

A pheromone-binding protein from navel orange worm, Amyelois transitella (Atra-PBP1) binds to non-polar pheromone molecules and facilitates the transport and delivery of pheromone to the membrane-bound pheromone receptors. We report complete NMR chemical shift assignments of Atra-PBP1 obtained at pH 4.5 and 25 degrees C (BMRB No. 15601).

The sophistication of the insect olfactory system is elegantly demonstrated by the reception of sex pheromone by the Japanese beetle. In this insect, two olfactory receptor neurons housed in antennal sensilla placodea are highly sensitive. One neuron specifically detects the sex pheromone produced by conspecific females (R,Z)-5-(−)-(1-decenyl)oxacy...

Synthetic mosquito oviposition attractants are sorely needed for surveillance and control programs for Culex species, which are major vectors of pathogens causing various human diseases, including filariasis, encephalitis, and West Nile encephalomyelitis. We employed novel and conventional chemical ecology approaches to identify potential attractan...

The red imported fire ant (RIFA), Solenopsis invicta, is an invasive species, accidentally introduced in the United States that can cause painful (sometimes life-threatening) stings to human, pets, and livestock. Their colonies have two social forms: monogyne and polygyne that have a single and multiple functional queens, respectively. A major gene...

The NMR structure of the Antheraea polyphemus pheromone-binding protein 1 at pH 4.5, ApolPBP1A, was determined at 20 degrees C. The structure consists of six alpha-helices, which are arranged in a globular fold that encapsulates a central helix alpha7 formed by the C-terminal polypeptide segment 131-142. The 3D arrangement of these helices is ancho...

We have expressed a male-specific, pheromone-sensitive odorant receptor (OR), BmorOR1, from the silkworm moth Bombyx mori in an “empty neuron” housed in the ab3 sensilla of a Drosophila Δhalo mutant. Single-sensillum recordings showed that the BmorOR1-expressing neurons in the transgenic flies responded to the B. mori pheromone bombykol, albeit wit...

The Anopheles gambiae mosquito is the main vector of malaria transmission in sub-Saharan Africa. We present here a 1.5A crystal structure of AgamOBP1, an odorant binding protein (OBP) from the A. gambiae mosquito. The protein crystallized as a dimer with a unique binding pocket consisting of a continuous tunnel running through both subunits of the...

Transient kinetic studies have shown that the uptake of the pheromone (bombykol) of the silkworm moth (Bombyx mori), by its pheromone-binding protein (PBP) BmorPBP, proceeds with an “on” rate of 0.068 ± 0.01 μM–1·s–1. With the high concentration of PBP in the sensillar lymph (10 mM), the half-life for the uptake of pheromone in vivo is ≈1 ms. A pH-...

Four antennae-specific proteins (AaegOBP1, AaegOBP2, AaegOBP3, and AaegASP1) were isolated from the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti and their full-length cDNAs were cloned. RT-PCR indicated that they are expressed in female and, to a lesser extent, in male antennae, but not in control tissues (legs). AaegOBP1 and AaegOBP3 showed significant si...

Previous biochemical evidence suggests that a cytochrome P450 specific to male antennae of the pale-brown chafer, Phyllopertha diversa, has evolved as a pheromone-degrading enzyme. By using a bioinformatics approach, we have now cloned three P450 cDNAs: CYP4AW1, CYP4AW2, and CYP6AT1. RT-PCR indicated that CYP4AW2 is expressed in all tissues examine...

We have identified and cloned an odorantbinding protein from the female mosquito, Culex tarsalis (CtarOBP). As expected for an olfactory protein, CtarOBP was detected by gel electrophoresis analysis in antennae but not in control tissues (legs). The isolated protein was identified by in-gel digestion and subsequent analysis of internal fragments by...

Odorant-degrading enzymes have been postulated to participate in the fast deactivation of insect pheromones. These proteins are expressed specifically in the sensillar lymph of insect antennae in such low amounts that, hitherto, isolation and protein-based cDNA cloning has not been possible. Using degenerate primers based on conserved amino acid se...

With a protein-based approach, we have identified and cloned the cDNA encoding a chemosensory protein (LhumCSP) in the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile. The open reading frame of the cloned cDNA encoded a signal peptide (20 residues), and a mature protein (pI 4.62) of 106 amino acid residues. The calculated molecular mass (12,453 Da) was in agreem...

Hitherto, odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) have been identified from insects belonging to more highly evolved insect orders (Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Hemiptera), whereas only chemosensory proteins have been identified from more primitive species, such as orthopteran and phasmid species. Here, we report for the first time th...

ISMIS 2002. Abstracts of the Fourth International Symposium on Molecular Insect Science. Abstracts are listed in alphabetical order by the last name of the senior author.

ISMIS 2002. Abstracts of the Fourth International Symposium on Molecular Insect Science. Abstracts are listed in alphabetical order by the last name of the senior author.

We have identified and cloned a cDNA encoding the first odorant-binding protein isolated from mosquitoes. The protein isolated from female antennae of Culex quinquefasciatus (CquiOBP) was not detected in legs (control tissue) or in antennal extracts from males, and showed mobility in native polyacrylamide gels similar to that of the pheromone-bindi...

This chapter outlines the current topics on silkworm diapause, especially on the regulation of diapause hormone-pheromone synthesis activating neuropeptide (DH-PBAN) gene expression analyzed by a transgenic Drosophila system, the regulation of diapauses hormone (DH) peptide secretion, and diapause metabolism in eggs that are deficient in glycogen a...

The diapause hormone (DH)-pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide (PBAN) gene (BomDH PBAN gene) of the silkworm, Bombyx mori encodes the polyprotein precursor from which 5 FXPRLamide peptides including DH are produced. The gene is expressed in only twelve neurosecretory cells of the suboesophageal ganglion under the control of develop-mental...

The diapause hormone (DH) -pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide (PBAN) gene (BomDH-PBAN gene) of the silkworm, Bombyx mori encodes a polyprotein precursor from which DH is released to act on induction of embryonic diapause. We prepared a construct consisting of 7kb of 5' upstream region of the BomDH-PBAN gene fused with the lacZ reporter...

Polyclonal antiserum was raised by immunizing rabbits with the synthetic diapause hormone (BomDH-I[19-Cys]) of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. By immunological analyses, the antiserum was demonstrated to specifically recognize the diapause hormone. The antiserum was injected into larvae, pupae and pharate adults of the Daizo strain that were destined to...