Correlation of guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase activity and the synthesis of pterins in Drosophila melanogaster

Fan, Ching Liang; Hall, Linda M.; Skrinska, A. J.; Brown, Gene M.

doi:10.1007/bf00484766

Cited by 45 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The dynamics of accumulation of sepiapterin in A. ludens (Fig. 3) correspond to the pattern described for Drosophila melanogaster (Meigen) (Fan et al 1976). The synthesis of sepiapterin in head capsules of D. melanogaster starts before emergence and accumulates for a short period after emergence, usu- ally 2Ð 4 d, depending upon temperature.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Age Estimation of Mexican Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) Based on Accumulation of Pterins

Tomic-Carruthers

Mangan

Carruthers

2002

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A common method of aging adult flies, fluorescence spectrometry, was used to monitor the increase of overall pterine titer in head extracts of Anastrepha ludens (Loew). Accumulation of fluorescent compounds was measured as a function of chronological age of flies maintained at 17 and 27 degrees C. Although relative fluorescence increased with age, field studies revealed that this phenomenon could not be used for accurate age estimation, as relative fluorescence did not increase predictably with age over the entire life span. Accumulation of individual pterins, deoxysepiapterin and sepiapterin, were studied in a similar manner. These two specific compounds were separated by high-pressure liquid chromatography and their accumulation was followed at 15 and 30 degrees C in the laboratory and under caged field conditions. While titer of deoxysepiapterin increased steadily in a curvilinear fashion, sepiapterin quickly reached a maximum and then maintained a constant level for the rest of the life of the flies. Based on the physiological response of deoxysepiapterin to chronological time and ambient thermal conditions, this compound was determined to be an age specific biological parameter for the Mexican fruit fly and should allow age estimation in field-collected flies.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Age Estimation of Mexican Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) Based on Accumulation of Pterins

Tomic-Carruthers

Mangan

Carruthers

2002

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“…Although studies of the presence of particular pteridines in insects and the biochemical pathways associated with their accumulation continue (e.g. Fan et al, 1976;Parisi et al, 1976;Silva et al, 1991), the link between these processes and the behavioral and ecological factors that modify them unfortunately remains obscure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age determination in individual wild-caughtDrosophila serratausing pteridine concentration

Robson

Vickers

Blows

et al. 2006

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARY Fluorescence spectrophotometry can reliably detect levels of the pteridine 6-biopterin in the heads of individual Drosophila serrata Malloch 1927. Pteridine content in both laboratory and field captured flies is typically a level of magnitude higher than the minimally detectable level(meanlab=0.54 units, meanfield=0.44 units, minimum detectable level=0.01 units) and can be used to predict individual age in laboratory populations with high certainty (r2=57%). Laboratory studies of individuals of known age (from 1 to 48 days old)indicate that while pteridine level increases linearly with age, they also increase in a linear manner with rearing temperature and ambient light levels,but are independent of sex. As expected, the longevity of laboratory-reared males (at least 48 days) is higher than the range of predicted ages of wild-caught males based on individual pteridine levels (40 days). However, the predictive equation based on pteridine level alone suggested that a number of wild-caught males were less than 0 days old, and the 95% confidence limits for these predictions based on the inverse regression are broad. The age of the oldest wild-caught male is predicted to fall within the range of 2 to 50 days. The significant effects of temperature and light intensity determined in the laboratory study (effect sizes ω2=14.3 and 20.4%,respectively) suggests that the calibration of the age prediction equation for field populations would be significantly improved when combined with fine-scaled studies of habitat temperature and light conditions. The ability to determine relative age in individual wild-caught D. serratapresents great opportunities for a variety of evolutionary studies on the dynamics of natural populations.

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“…The biosynthetic pathways for the production of the two classes of pigments, which are biochemically aistinct, are under strict developmental control. Ommochrome deposition in the developing eye first begins around 47 h after pupariation and continues until two days after eclosion (Ryall & Howells, 1974), while the drosopterins first appear about 70 h after pupariation and are deposited until two to three days after adult emergence (Fan et al, 1976). These features of tissue-specific and temporal con1Ioi, in combination with the identification of over 50 genes that have a primary effect on pigment production (Lindsley & Zimm, 1992), make eye pigment synthesis in Drosophila melanogaster an attractive system for studying coordinated gene regulation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular characterization of the cinnabar region of Drosophila melanogaster: Identification of the cinnabar transcription unit

1996

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Early studies of eye pigmentation in Drosophila melanogaster provided compelling evidence that the cinnabar (cn) gene encodes the enzyme kynurenine 3-monooxygenase (EC 1.14.13.9). Here we report the cloning of approximately 60 kb of DNA encompassing the cn gene by chromosome walking in the 43E6-F1 region of chromosome 2. An indication of the position of cn within the cloned region was obtained by molecular analysis of mutants: 9 spontaneous cn mutants were found to have either DNA insertions or deletions within a 5 kb region. In addition, a 7.8 kb restriction fragment encompassing the region altered in the mutants was observed to induce transient cn function when microinjected into cn- embryos. The cn transcription unit was identified by Northern blotting and sequence analysis of cDNA and genomic clones from this region. The predicted cn protein contains several sequence motifs common to aromatic monooxygenases and is consistent with the assignment of cn as encoding the structural gene for kynurenine 3-monooxygenase.

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Correlation of guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase activity and the synthesis of pterins in Drosophila melanogaster

Cited by 45 publications

References 15 publications

Age Estimation of Mexican Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) Based on Accumulation of Pterins

Age Estimation of Mexican Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) Based on Accumulation of Pterins

Age determination in individual wild-caughtDrosophila serratausing pteridine concentration

Molecular characterization of the cinnabar region of Drosophila melanogaster: Identification of the cinnabar transcription unit

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