Nerve Cells and Insect Behavior—Studies on Crickets

Particle arrays on insect nerve membranes.

Freeze-fracture studies of Lepidopteran antennae have revealed the presence of orthogonal arrays of particles on antennal nerve membranes. Initial impressions were that several different arrays were present. Optical diffraction was used to examine the arrays on the electron micrograph negatives. This technique showed that all the arrays were derived from the same basic structure, suggesting tha...

Cloning and Expression of Simian Rotavirus Spike Protein (VP4) in Insect Cells by Baculovirus Expression System

Background: VP4 protein is as spikes on rotavirus outer capsid shell which is responsible for virus attachment to the host. VP4 induces production of neutralizing antibodies which could be used for serotyping of different isolates. Methods: Simian rotavirus SA11 gene 4 cDNA was cloned into a cloning plasmid pDONRTM by recombination reaction using clonase II enzyme mix. The resulting clone was c...

Potassium Ions and Insect Nerve Muscle

Human Papillomavirus Type16- L1 VLP Production in Insect Cells

  Objective(s):  Infection by high-risk papillomavirus is regarded as the major risk factor in the development of cervical cancer. Recombinant DNA technology allows expression of the L1 major capsid protein of HPV in different expression systems, which has intrinsic capacity to self-assemble into viral-like particles (VLP). VLPS are non-infectious, highly immunogenic and can elicit neutralizing...

Stereochemistry of insect kinin tetrazole analogues and their diuretic activity in crickets.

Insect kinin analogues of the sequence Phe-Phe-psi[CN(4)]-Ala-Trp-Gly-NH(2) containing (L-Phe(2),L-Ala(3)) and (L-Phe(2),D-Ala(3)) stereochemical variants of the tetrazole moiety, a mimic of the type VI beta-turn, demonstrate significant agonist and partial antagonist activity, respectively, in a cricket diuretic bioassay. A comparison of the solution conformations of these two stereochemical v...