The midgut is the major organ for food digestion, nutrient absorption and also a barrier for foreign substance. The 5th-instar larval stage of silkworm is very important for larval growth, development, and silk production. In the present study, we used 2-DE and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) to analyze the midgut proteins from the 5th...

Background Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin Cry4Ba specifically targets the mosquito larval midgut epithelial cells for its insecticidal toxicity. Prior to reaching the midgut cells, the toxin must penetrate the midgut peritrophic membrane (PM), an acellular gut protective structure lining the midgut epithelium. However, the mechanism of toxin passage through the PM is currently unknown. To ex...

Membrane-bound alkaline phosphatases (mALPs, EC 3.1.3.1) in the insect midgut have been reported as functional receptors for Cry toxins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. We previously reported the identification of HvALP in the midgut of Heliothis virescens larvae as a Cry1Ac-binding protein that is down-regulated in Cry1Ac-resistant insects. To further characterize HvALP, we localized...

Background: Diabetes is a global health problem that its prevalence is increasing rapidly. Rosa damascena extract has shown to have an intensive non-competitive inhibitory effect on α-glucosidase in an animal study. The aim of this study was to assess the safety and efficacy of Rosa damascena (RD) Mill in diabetic patients and healthy subjects. Method...

β-glucosidase is involved in the degradation of cellulose in soil and has the potential for monitoring biological soil quality. the objective of this study was to determine the effects of barley residue placement, burning, nitrogen fertilizer and tillage management on β-glucosidase enzyme after a period of 90 days. a field experiment was carried out based on a completely randomized design with ...

The midgut pH of gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) larvae was significantly lower when larvae were fed acidic foliage. At 30 min after the start of a feeding bout, larvae feeding on bigtooth aspen (foliage pH = 6.04) had average midgut pH levels of 10.16, while larvae feeding on red oak foliage (foliage pH = 3.84) had average midgut pH levels of 9.36. Midgut pH was also significantly reduced when l...

In this study, we investigated the inhibitory effects of Baechu kimchi added Ecklonia cava on the activities of α-glucosidase and α-amylase and its alleviating effect on the postprandial hyperglycemia in STZ-induced diabetic mice. Baechu kimchi added Ecklonia cava (BKE, 15%) was fermented at 5°C for 28 days. Optimum ripened BKE was used in this study as it showed the strongest inhibitory activi...

The present study was to evaluate the anti-diabetic activity of the aqueous extract of Actinidia kolomikta root against baker's yeast α-glucosidase and rat intestinal α-glucosidase. As a result, the aqueous extract of Actinidia kolomikta root exhibited excellent baker's yeast α-glucosidase inhibitory activity which was better than acarbose. It also showed rat intestinal α-glucosidase inhibitory...

β-Glucosidase, which hydrolyzes cellobiose into two glucoses, plays an important role in the process of saccharification of the lignocellulosic biomass. In this study, we optimized the activity of β-glucosidase of brown-rot fungus Fomitopsis pinicola KCTC 6208 using the response surface methodology (RSM) with various concentrations of glucose, yeast extract and ascorbic acid, which are the most...