Drosophila melanogaster has the enzymatic machinery to make the melanic component of neuromelanin.
Hanine BarekAlexey VeraksaManickam SugumaranPublished in: Pigment cell & melanoma research (2018)
In Drosophila, the same set of genes that are used for cuticle pigmentation and sclerotization are present in the nervous system and are responsible for neurotransmitter recycling. In this study, we carried out biochemical analysis to determine whether insects have the enzymatic machinery to make melanic component of neuromelanin. We focused our attention on two key enzymes of melanogenesis, namely phenoloxidase and dopachrome decarboxylase/tautomerase. Activity staining of the proteins isolated from the Drosophila larval brain tissue, separated by native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, indicated the presence of these two enzymes. Mass spectral sequence analysis of the band also supported this finding. To best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the presence of the enzymatic machinery to make melanin part of neuromelanin in any insect brain.
Keyphrases
- drosophila melanogaster
- hydrogen peroxide
- resting state
- white matter
- functional connectivity
- healthcare
- working memory
- aedes aegypti
- cerebral ischemia
- optical coherence tomography
- genome wide
- nitric oxide
- gene expression
- zika virus
- multiple sclerosis
- blood brain barrier
- transcription factor
- amino acid
- bioinformatics analysis