New data on the presence of hemocyanin in Plecoptera: Recomposing a puzzle
1Environmental Sciences Department, University of Viterbo, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
2Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Blanes (CEAB-CSIC), 17300 Blanes, España
Abstract
The specific role of hemocyanin in Plecoptera (stoneflies) is still not completely understood, since none of the hypotheses advanced have proven fully convincing. Previous data show that mRNA hemocyanin sequences are not present in all Plecoptera, and that hemocyanin does not seem to be uniformly distributed within the order. All species possess hexamerins, which are multifunction proteins that probably originated from hemocyanin. In order to obtain an increasingly detailed picture on the presence and distribution of hemocyanin across the order, this study presents new data regarding nymphs and adults of selected Plecoptera species. Results confirm that the hemocyanin expression differs among nymphs in the studied stonefly species. Even though previous studies have found hemocyanin in adults of two stonefly species it was not detected in the present study, even in species where nymphs show hemocyanin, suggesting that the physiological need of this protein can change during life cycle. The phylogenetic pattern obtained using hemocyanin sequences matches the accepted scheme of traditional phylogeny based on morphology, anatomy, and biology. It is remarkable to note that the hemocyanin conserved region acts like a phylogenetic molecular marker within Plecoptera.
Keywords: cDNA, phylogeny, respiratory proteins, stoneflies
Abbreviations: HcSF, hemocyanin superfamily
Correspondence:
a valamore@unitus.it,
b bgae85@libero.it,
c puig@ceab.csic.es,
d fochetti@unitus.it, *Corresponding author
Editor: Craig Coates was Editor of this paper.
Received: 6 October 2010 | Accepted: 12 October 2011 | Published: 10 November 2011
Copyright: This is an open access paper. We use the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license that permits unrestricted use, provided that the paper is properly attributed.
ISSN: 1536-2442 | Volume 11, Number 153
Amore V, Gaetani B, Puig MA, Fochetti R. 2011. New data on the presence of hemocyanin in Plecoptera: Recomposing a puzzle. Journal of Insect Science 11:153 available online: insectscience.org/11.153
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