| production of ethanol by cultured insect cells. | proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1h-nmr) analysis of insect cell culture media used for cultivating insect cell lines derived from the fleshfly sarcophaga peregrina, swallowtail butterfly papilio xuthus, and cabbage armyworm mamestra brassicae revealed that ethanol appeared in the medium as the cultures aged. by incorporating [13c-1]-glucose into the media, we pursued 13c-nmr spectrograms to show that the ethanol was derived from glucose. thus, it became evident that the insect cells cultured ... | 1995 | 8826093 |
| selective photoreceptor damage in four species of insects induced by experimental exposures to uv-irradiation. | damage to photoreceptive cells of insect compound eyes exposed to abnormally high doses of uv-radiation of 350nm peak wavelength manifests itself in at least two different ways. in the butterflies papilio xuthus and pieris napi from japan and northern finland, respectively, only the cell bodies of retinula cells 1 and 2, (identified as short wavelength receptors), but not their corresponding rhabdomeres, exhibit damage with apoptotic features. in the eye of uv-irradiated adult crickets, however, ... | 2002 | 11473811 |
| opsin cdna sequences of a uv and green rhodopsin of the satyrine butterfly bicyclus anynana. | the cdnas of an ultraviolet (uv) and long-wavelength (lw) (green) absorbing rhodopsin of the bush brown bicyclus anynana were partially identified. the uv sequence, encoding 377 amino acids, is 76-79% identical to the uv sequences of the papilionids papilio glaucus and papilio xuthus and the moth manduca sexta. a dendrogram derived from aligning the amino acid sequences reveals an equidistant position of bicyclus between papilio and manduca. the sequence of the green opsin cdna fragment, which e ... | 2002 | 12539740 |
| perturbation of the wing color pattern of a swallowtail butterfly, papilio xuthus, induced by acid carboxypeptidase. | hypodermal injection of toughmac-e, a digestive mixture composed of nine digestive components, or molsin induced perturbation of the wing color pattern in 0- to 2-day-old pupae of papilio xuthus, but had no effect on prepupae or 3- to 4-day-old pupae. the effective component in toughmac-e was identified as molsin, an acid carboxypeptidase of aspergillus saitoi which specifically liberates tyrosine and phenylalanine from the c-terminal residues of proteins. the pattern perturbation occurred in ei ... | 2003 | 12692391 |
| comparative venom toxicity between pteromalus puparum and nasonia vitripennis (hymenoptera: pteromalidae) toward the hemocytes of their natural hosts, non-target insects and cultured insect cells. | crude venoms from two parasitoid species, pteromalus puparum and nasonia vitripennis (hymenoptera: pteromalidae) were assayed for biological activities toward hemocytes from two species of their natural hosts and eight species of their non-natural hosts as well as two lines of cultured lepidoptera cells, respectively. by inhibiting the spreading and viability of insect hemocytes, the venom from p. puparum displayed significantly higher activities toward plasmatocytes and granular cells from both ... | 2005 | 16026808 |
| color discrimination at the spatial resolution limit in a swallowtail butterfly, papilio xuthus. | spatial resolution of insect compound eyes is much coarser than that of humans: a single pixel of the human visual system covers about 0.008 degrees whereas that of diurnal insects is typically about 1.0 degrees . anatomically, the pixels correspond to single cone outer segments in humans and to single rhabdoms in insects. although an outer segment and a rhabdom are equivalent organelles containing visual pigment molecules, they are strikingly different in spectral terms. the cone outer segment ... | 2006 | 16857870 |
| molecular cloning and characterization of cdnas encoding dopamine receptor-1 and -2 from brain-suboesophageal ganglion of the silkworm, bombyx mori. | in order to better understand the relationship between dopamine and the release of diapause hormone into the blood, we cloned and characterized cdnas encoding bombyx mori dopamine receptor-1 and -2 (bmdopr1 and 2) from the pupal brain-suboesophageal ganglion. bmdopr1 and 2 had high similarities to group 1 (drosophila melanogaster dop1 and apis mellifera dop1) and group 2 (d. melanogaster dopr99b, a. mellifera dop2 and papilio xuthus dop1), respectively. when bmdopr1 and 2 were expressed in human ... | 2008 | 18353107 |
| simultaneous color contrast in the foraging swallowtail butterfly, papilio xuthus. | this study demonstrates that the color vision of foraging japanese yellow swallowtail butterflies, papilio xuthus, involves simultaneous color contrast. we trained newly emerged papilio to select a disk of pale green among a set of differently colored disks presented on a black background. when the same set of disks was presented on blue background, the pale green-trained butterflies selected blue-green. the difference in spectra between pale green and blue green was similar to the spectrum of y ... | 2008 | 18931322 |
| characterization and cdna cloning of a cecropin-like antimicrobial peptide, papiliocin, from the swallowtail butterfly, papilio xuthus. | cecropin is a well-studied antimicrobial peptide that is synthesized in fat body cells and hemocytes of insects in response to hypodermic injury or bacterial infection. a 503 bp cdna encoding for a cecropin-like peptide was isolated by employing annealing control primer (acp)-based differential display pcr and 5'-race with immunized papilio xuthus larvae. the open reading frame of the isolated cdna encoded for a 62-amino acid prepropeptide with a putative 22-residue signal peptide, a 2-residue p ... | 2010 | 20213310 |
| influence of the papiliocin peptide derived from papilio xuthus on the perturbation of fungal cell membranes. | papiliocin is a 37-residue peptide isolated from the swallowtail butterfly papilio xuthus. in this study, the antifungal effects and the mechanism of actions of papiliocin were investigated. first of all, papiliocin was shown to exert fungicidal activity. to understand the antifungal mechanism(s), propidium iodide influx into candida albicans cells, induced by papiliocin, was examined. the result indicated that papiliocin perturbed and disrupted the fungal plasma membrane. furthermore, calcein l ... | 2010 | 20707816 |
| membrane perturbation induced by papiliocin peptide, derived from papilio xuthus, in candida albicans. | previously, papiliocin was isolated from the swallowtail butterfly papilio xuthus and its antimicrobial activity was suggested. in this study, the antifungal mechanism of papiliocin was investigated against candida albicans. confocal laser scanning microscopy (clsm) and 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (dph) fluorescence analysis indicated that papiliocin disturbed the fungal plasma membrane. moreover, the assessment of the release of fitc-dextran (fd) from liposome further demonstrated that the an ... | 2010 | 20798579 |
| polarization-based brightness discrimination in the foraging butterfly, papilio xuthus. | the human eye is insensitive to the angular direction of the light e-vector, but several animal species have the ability to discriminate differently polarized lights. how the polarization is detected is often unclear, however. egg-laying papilio butterflies have been shown to see false colours when presented with differently polarized lights. here we asked whether this also holds in foraging butterflies. after training individuals to feed on nectar in front of an unpolarized spectral light, we c ... | 2011 | 21282172 |
| induction of yeast apoptosis by an antimicrobial peptide, papiliocin. | papiliocin is a 37-residue peptide isolated from the swallowtail butterfly papilio xuthus. in this study, we found that papiliocin induced the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ros) and hydroxyl radicals known to be important regulators of apoptosis in candida albicans. to examine the relationship between the accumulation of ros and the induction of apoptosis, we investigated the apoptotic effects of papiliocin using apoptotic markers. cells treated with papiliocin showed a series of cell ... | 2011 | 21458420 |
| Larval feeding stimulants for a rutaceae-feeding swallowtail butterfly, Papilio xuthus L. in Citrus unshiu leaves. | Larvae of a swallowtail butterfly, Papilio xuthus L., feed exclusively on plants of the family Rutaceae, including various Citrus crops. Larvae were strongly stimulated to feed on paper strips impregnated with ethanolic extracts of host-plant leaves. Stimulation of feeding on extracts of Citrus unshiu leaves required a mixture of chemicals including sugars (D: -glucose, D: -fructose, and D: -sucrose), a betaine [(-)-stachydrine], a cyclic peptide (citrusin I), a polymethoxyflavone (isosinensetin ... | 2011 | 21959594 |
| Structure and function of papiliocin with antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities isolated from the swallowtail butterfly, Papilio xuthus. | Papiliocin is a novel 37-residue cecropin-like peptide isolated recently from the swallowtail butterfly, Papilio xuthus. With the aim of identifying a potent antimicrobial peptide, we tested papiliocin in a variety of biological and biophysical assays, demonstrating that the peptide possesses very low cytotoxicity against mammalian cells and high bacterial cell selectivity, particularly against Gram-negative bacteria as well as high anti-inflammatory activity. Using LPS-stimulated macrophage RAW ... | 2011 | 21965682 |
| proteome changes in the plasma of papilio xuthus (lepidoptera: papilionidae): effect of parasitization by the endoparasitic wasp pteromalus puparum (hymenoptera: pteromalidae). | although the biochemical dissection of parasitoid-host interactions is becoming well characterized, the molecular knowledge concerning them is minimal. in order to understand the molecular bases of the host immune response to parasitoid attack, we explored the response of papilio xuthus parasitized by the endoparasitic wasp pteromalus puparum using proteomic approach. by examining the differential expression of plasma proteins in the parasitized and unparasitized host pupae by two-dimensional (2 ... | 0 | 19489110 |
| comprehensive microarray-based analysis for stage-specific larval camouflage pattern-associated genes in the swallowtail butterfly, papilio xuthus. | body coloration is an ecologically important trait that is often involved in prey-predator interactions through mimicry and crypsis. although this subject has attracted the interest of biologists and the general public, our scientific knowledge on the subject remains fragmentary. in the caterpillar of the swallowtail butterfly papilio xuthus, spectacular changes in the color pattern are observed; the insect mimics bird droppings (mimetic pattern) as a young larva, and switches to a green camoufl ... | 2012 | 22651552 |
| outbred genome sequencing and crispr/cas9 gene editing in butterflies. | butterflies are exceptionally diverse but their potential as an experimental system has been limited by the difficulty of deciphering heterozygous genomes and a lack of genetic manipulation technology. here we use a hybrid assembly approach to construct high-quality reference genomes for papilio xuthus (contig and scaffold n50: 492 kb, 3.4 mb) and papilio machaon (contig and scaffold n50: 81 kb, 1.15 mb), highly heterozygous species that differ in host plant affiliations, and adult and larval co ... | 2015 | 26354079 |
| characterization of a digestive α-amylase in the midgut of pieris brassicae l. (lepidoptera: pieridae). | the current study deals with a digestive α-amylase in the larvae of pieris brassicae l. through purification, enzymatic characterization, gene expression, and in vivo effect of a specific inhibitor, acarbose. although α-amylase activity was the highest in the whole gut homogenate of larvae but compartmentalization of amylolytic activity showed an equal activity in posterior midgut (pm) and anterior midgut (am). a three step purification using ammonium sulfate, sepharyl g-100 and deae-cellulose f ... | 2016 | 27014094 |
| functional roles of aromatic residues and helices of papiliocin in its antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities. | a cecropin-like peptide, papiliocin, isolated from the swallowtail butterfly papilio xuthus, possesses high selectivity against gram-negative bacteria. since trp(2) and phe(5) are highly conserved residues in cecropin-like peptides, we investigated the role of trp(2) and phe(5) in antibacterial activity. substitution of trp(2) and phe(5) in papiliocin with ala (papiliocin-2a and papiliocin-5a) revealed that trp(2) is a key residue in its antibacterial activities. in order to understand the struc ... | 2015 | 26156126 |
| purification and characterization of coacervate-forming cuticular proteins from papilio xuthus pupae. | the papilio xuthus (lepidoptera: papilionidae) pupa expresses novel soluble proteins that undergo reversible temperature-dependent coacervate-formation. we purified two coacervate-forming proteins, px-1 and px-4, from the wings of pharate adults. px-1 and px-4 form coacervates upon warming. transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed that these proteins assemble ordered bead-like ultrastructures. we cloned and sequenced px-1 and px-4 cdnas. the px-1 and px-4 amino acid sequences contain m ... | 2013 | 23829213 |
| peroxiredoxin 5 from common cutworm (spodoptera litura) acts as a potent antioxidant enzyme. | in this study, we describe the cloning and characterization of a prx from the common cutworm spodoptera litura (slprx5). the slprx5 cdna contains an open reading frame of 477 bp encoding a predicted protein of 159 amino acid residues, 16.902 kda, and an isoelectric point of 7.68. furthermore, the deduced amino acid sequence of the slprx5 cdna showed 86% identity to papilio xuthus prx5, 72% to aedes aegypti prx5, and 64-67% to other insect prxs. a phylogenetic analysis further revealed that the d ... | 2014 | 24998343 |
| the mitochondrial genome of the butterfly papilio xuthus (lepidoptera: papilionidae) and related phylogenetic analyses. | the nearly complete mitochondrial genome of the butterfly papilio xuthus (lepidoptera: papilionidae) was sequenced for its nucleotide sequence of 13,964 bp. the genome has a typical gene order identical to other lepidopteran species. all trnas showed same stable canonical clover-leaf structure as those of other insects, except for trna(ser) (agn), in which the dihydrouracil arm (dhu arm) could not form stable stem-loop structure. anomalous initiation codons have been observed for the cox1 gene, ... | 2010 | 20213506 |
| wavelength discrimination in the hummingbird hawkmoth macroglossum stellatarum. | despite the strong relationship between insect vision and the spectral properties of flowers, the visual system has been studied in detail in only a few insect pollinator species. for instance, wavelength discrimination thresholds have been determined in two species only: the honeybee (apis mellifera) and the butterfly papilio xuthus. here, we present the wavelength discrimination thresholds (δλ) for the hawkmoth macroglossum stellatarum. we compared the data with those found for the honeybee, t ... | 2016 | 26747900 |
| electroporation-mediated somatic transgenesis for rapid functional analysis in insects. | transgenesis is a powerful technique for determining gene function; however, it is time-consuming. it is virtually impossible to carry out in non-model insects in which egg manipulation and screening are difficult. we have established a rapid genetic functional analysis system for non-model insects using a low-cost electroporator (costing under us$200) designed for somatic transformation with the piggybac transposon. using this system, we successfully generated somatic transgenic cell clones in ... | 2013 | 23250219 |
| caterpillar color patterns are determined by a two-phase melanin gene prepatterning process: new evidence from tan and laccase2. | the larval color patterns in lepidoptera exhibit splendid diversity, and identifying the genes responsible for pigment distribution is essential to understanding color-pattern evolution. the swallowtail butterfly, papilio xuthus, is a good candidate for analyzing marking-associated genes because its body markings change dramatically at the final molt. moreover, the silkworm bombyx mori is most suitable for identification of lab-generated color mutants because genome information and many color mu ... | 2011 | 20433456 |
| homologues of fibroin l-chain and p25 of bombyx mori are present in dendrolimus spectabilis and papilio xuthus but not detectable in antheraea yamamai. | low molecular mass protein components of fibroin, whose electrophoretic patterns before and after the reductive cleavage of disulfide bonds were similar to those of l-chain and p25 of bombyx mori, were identified in fibroin samples of bombyx mandarina, dendrolimus spectabilis and papilio xuthus but not of antheraea yamamai. fibroin of a. yamamai is suggested to form a dimer of h-chain. full length cdna sequences were cloned for the homologues of l-chain and p25 from b. mandarina, d. spectabilis ... | 2001 | 11267905 |
| the important significance of filopodial elongation of phagocytic granular cells of the silkworm, bombyx mori, in recognition of foreignness. | the significance of filopodial elongation of granular phagocytes of bombyx mori in recognition of foreignness was examined using a larval epidermis obtained from the same individual of b.mori as a self material and intra- or interspecific epidermis and glass as non-self ones. incubation of cells on self or intraspecific epidermis markedly decreased the filopodial elongation of attached cells, as compared with the incubation on glass. interspecific epidermis from other lepidopterans (papilio xuth ... | 1983 | 6642042 |
| characterization of a new insect cell line that is derived from the neonate larvae of papilio xuthus (lepidoptera: papilionidae) and its susceptibility to acnpv. | the cell line riri-px1 was established from neonate larval tissues of papilio xuthus by performing primary cultures in the modified grace medium that was supplemented with 20% fetal bovine serum (fbs). the cell line primarily consisted of spindle-shaped and spherical cells which attached themselves to the flask. the population-doubling times (pdts) at the 50th and 60th passage were 42.5 h and 42.1 h respectively. the average chromosome numbers of riri-px1 cell line from passage 5 to passage 50 r ... | 2012 | 22386749 |
| coincidental intraguild predation by caterpillars on spider mites. | intraguild predation (igp) is defined as the killing and eating of prey species by a predator that also can utilize the resources of the prey. it is mainly reported among carnivores that share common herbivorous prey. however, a large chewing herbivore could prey upon sedentary and/or micro herbivores in addition to utilizing a host plant. to investigate such coincidental igp, we observed the behavioral responses of the polyphagous mite tetranychus kanzawai kishida (acari: tetranychidae) when it ... | 2012 | 22286142 |
| plant scents modify innate colour preference in foraging swallowtail butterflies. | flower-visiting insects exhibit innate preferences for particular colours. a previous study demonstrated that naive papilio xuthus females prefer yellow and red, whereas males are more attracted to blue. here, we demonstrate that the innate colour preference can be modified by olfactory stimuli in a sexually dimorphic manner. naive p. xuthus were presented with four coloured discs: blue, green, yellow and red. the innate colour preference (i.e. the colour first landed on) of the majority of indi ... | 2015 | 26179802 |
| molecular logic behind the three-way stochastic choices that expand butterfly colour vision. | butterflies rely extensively on colour vision to adapt to the natural world. most species express a broad range of colour-sensitive rhodopsin proteins in three types of ommatidia (unit eyes), which are distributed stochastically across the retina. the retinas of drosophila melanogaster use just two main types, in which fate is controlled by the binary stochastic decision to express the transcription factor spineless in r7 photoreceptors. we investigated how butterflies instead generate three sto ... | 2016 | 27383790 |