CuZnSOD - ResearchGate
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CuZnSOD - ResearchGate
A r t i c l e MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION AND OXIDATIVE STRESS RESPONSE OF AN INTRACELLULAR Cu/Zn SUPEROXIDE DISMUTASE (CuZnSOD) OF THE WHITEFLY, Bemisia tabaci Jun-Min Li, Yun-Lin Su, Xian-Long Gao, Jiao He, Shu-Sheng Liu, and Xiao-Wei Wang Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China Superoxide dismutases (SODs) are important for the survival of insects under environmental and biological stresses; however, little attention has been devoted to the functional characterization of SODs in whitefly. In this study, an intracellular copper/zinc superoxide dismutase of whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) (Bt-CuZnSOD) was cloned. Sequence analysis indicated that the full length cDNA of Bt-CuZnSOD is of 907 bp with a 471 bp open reading frame encoding 157 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence shares common consensus patterns with the CuZnSODs of various vertebrate and invertebrate animals. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that Bt-CuZnSOD is grouped together with intracellular CuZnSODs. Bt-CuZnSOD was then over-expressed in E. coli and purified using GST purification system. The enzymatic activity of purified Bt-CuZnSOD was assayed under various temperatures. When whiteflies were exposed to low (41C) and high (401C) temperatures, the in vivo activity of Bt-CuZnSOD was significantly increased. Furthermore, Grant sponsor: National Natural Science Foundation of China; Grant number: 30730061; Grant sponsor: National Basic Research Program of China; Grant number: 2009CB119203; Grant sponsor: Earmarked fund for Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. Correspondence to: Xiao-Wei Wang, Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, 268 Kaixuan Road, Hangzhou 310029, China. E-mail: [email protected] ARCHIVES OF INSECT BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). & 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/arch.20428 2 Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology, 2011 we measured the activities of several antioxidant enzymes, including SOD, catalase and peroxidase, in the whitefly after transferring the whitefly from cotton to tobacco (an unfavorable host plant). We found that the activity of SOD increased rapidly on tobacco plant. Taken together, these results suggest that the Bt-CuZnSOD plays a major role in C 2011 Wiley protecting the whitefly against various stress conditions. Periodicals, Inc. Keywords: Bemisia tabaci; Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD); oxidative stress; whitefly INTRODUCTION Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are constantly generated in all aerobic biological systems as natural products of oxidative metabolism. These include superoxide, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), hydroxyl radicals, nitric oxide (NO), and singlet oxygen. ROS cause oxidative stress and can be toxic to many cell components such as lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids (Fridovich, 1986; Cadenas, 1989; Halliwell and Gutteridge, 1999). Recent studies indicated that ROS, such as H2O2 and NO, are not only just acting as destructive molecules but also involved in various intracellular signaling pathways as important second messengers (Neill et al., 2002; Rhee, 2006; Groeger et al., 2009). To minimize the damaging effects of ROS, organisms have well-developed defense systems, including nonenzymatic and enzymatic antioxidants, against oxidative injury by limiting the formation of ROS as well as instituting its removal (Fattman et al., 2003). The enzymatic antioxidants include superoxide dismutases (SODs; EC 1.15.1.1), catalase (CAT; EC 1.11.1.6), peroxidase (POD; EC 1.11.1.7) and so on. SODs are one of the first lines of enzymatic defenses against ROS by catalyzing the dismutation of superoxide radicals into molecular oxygen and H2O2 (Fridovich, 1975; Holmblad and Soderhall, 1999). SODs are a group of metalloenzymes which are classified into three basic distinct groups according to their metal cofactor: copper/zinc SOD (CuZnSOD), manganese SOD (MnSOD), and iron SOD (FeSOD) (Zelko et al., 2002). CuZnSOD is primarily found in the cytosol of eukaryotes and rarely in bacteria (Crapo et al., 1992). In contrast, MnSOD is found in prokaryotes and in the mitochondria of eukaryotes, whereas FeSOD is found primarily in bacteria as well as in the chloroplasts of some green plants (Ken et al., 2005). CuZnSOD is an important type of SOD because of its physiological function and therapeutic potential. It is a homodimeric enzyme that requires zinc and copper for its structural integrity and enzymatic activity (Xu et al., 2009). The loss of copper results in its complete inactivation and induces many diseases in organism (Mizuno, 1984; Hough and Hasnain, 1999; Lindberg et al., 2004). Two types of CuZnSOD are found in eukaryotes: extracellular CuZnSOD (ecCuZnSOD) with an N-terminal signal cleavage peptide for secretion and intracellular CuZnSOD (icCuZnSOD) without signal peptide. Previous studies indicated that ec-SOD can be secreted in two forms, intact and cleaved, due to intracellular proteolytic processing of the carboxyl terminus containing the polybasic residues. The proteolytic removal of the carboxyl terminus could serve as a regulatory step by affecting both the affinity and distribution of ec-SOD to the extracellular matrix (Enghild et al., 1999; Bowler et al., 2002). icCuZnSOD is present in the cytoplasm and nucleus, whereas ecCuZnSOD is found in Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology Intracellular CuZnSOD of the Whitefly 3 the extracellular matrix of tissues such as lympha and plasma (Fattman et al., 2003). Molecular characterization of CuZnSOD has been investigated in various species (Ni et al., 2007). Previous studies showed that CuZnSOD is a main proximate cause of aging. Over expression of CuZnSOD can extend the life span of adult fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster (Sun and Tower, 1999) and yeast (Fabrizio et al., 2003). In contrast, loss of CuZnSOD activity by mutation can dramatically reduce the viability and lifespan of Drosophila (Phillips et al., 1989). Furthermore, CuZnSOD is also a major defense mechanism to many biological stimulators such as heat shock (Yoo et al., 1999a), heavy metals (Yoo et al., 1999b) and infection (Neves et al., 2000). For example, the level of CuZnSOD from fat body cells of mole cricket Gryllotalpa orientalis was significantly increased during the exposure to low (41C) and high (371C) temperature compared with control (251C), suggesting that CuZnSOD might have an important role in the protection of cricket against oxidative damage caused by temperature stress (Kim et al., 2005b). In addition, the activity of SOD is related to pesticide resistance in insects. When the granary weevils Sitophilus granarius were treated with fumigant insecticide phosphine (PH3), elevated SOD activity occurred probably in response to an increase in O 2 generation during the treatment (Bolter and Chefurka, 1990). The whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidea) is one of the most damaging agricultural pests of vegetable, ornamental, and fiber crops (Brown et al., 1995; De Barro et al., 2011). Recent phylogenetic analyses and crossing experiments indicate that the whitefly complex contains at least 28 cryptic species (Dinsdale et al., 2010; Xu et al., 2010; Wang et al., 2010b, 2011; De Barro et al., 2011; Hu et al., 2011). Among the 24 putative species within B. tabaci delineated by Dinsdale et al. (2010), one of them, namely the ‘‘Middle East-Asia Minor 1’’ (commonly referred to as B biotype, hereafter MEAM1), has risen to international prominence since the 1980s due to its worldwide distribution (Brown et al., 1995; Boykin et al., 2007; Liu et al., 2007). The global distribution of whitefly MEAM1 is partially due to its high fitness parameters such as a wide range of host plants, high fecundity and high survival rate under various environmental stresses (Lu and Wan, 2008). Preliminary studies on the correlation between stress and the SOD activity of whitefly showed that SOD plays a vital role for the survival of the whitefly in areas with extremely high temperature (Rosell et al., 2008). Those findings indicate that the activity of SOD is probably important for the survival of the whitefly under detrimental conditions. However, little attention has been devoted to the functional characterization of SOD in whitefly. With the aim at furthering understanding the potential role of SOD in the defense system against various environmental stresses in MEAM1, we cloned and characterized CuZnSOD gene of B. tabaci MEAM1 (hereafter Bt-CuZnSOD). To gain an insight into the physiological roles of Bt-CuZnSOD, the activity of SOD and relative antioxidant enzymes were further explored in vivo under extreme temperature and host shift (from favorable to unfavorable host plant) stresses. MATERIALS AND METHODS Whitefly Cultures The invasive whitefly MEAM1 (mtCO1 sequence GenBank accession no. GQ332577), collected from Zhejiang, China, were used in this study. Whitefly cultures were maintained on cotton plants (Gossypium hirsutum L. cv. Zhemian 1793). The details of Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology 4 Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology, 2011 the methods for maintaining the stock cultures were described in Liu et al. (2007) and Jiu et al. (2007). The purity of the cultures was monitored every 3–5 generations using the random amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction technique with the primer H16 (50 -TCTCAGCTGG-30 ) (De Barro and Driver, 1997; Luo et al., 2002). RNA Extraction Total RNA was extracted from 50 mg of adult whiteflies using SV total RNA isolation system (Promega, Madison, WI) according to the manufacturer’s protocol (Wang et al., 2010c). The quality of the total RNA samples was assessed by the ratio of absorbance at 260 and 280 nm wavelength and further checked by electrophoresis in 1.2% formaldehyde agarose gel. Cloning and Sequencing of Full-length Bt-CuZnSOD cDNA An EST homologous of copper/zinc SOD was found from the whitefly cDNA library (GenBank accession no. EE598784) (Leshkowitz et al., 2006). Based on this fragment sequence, 50 and 30 RACE were performed using the SMART RACE cDNA Amplification Kit (Clontech, Palo Alto, CA) to obtain its 50 and 30 ends. Gene-specific primers for the 50 (50 -ACGACCATGATATTCAGAGGGC-30 ) and 30 (50 -TTCAAGGATTAGCTCCAGGGC-30 ) RACE were used following the manufacturer’s instructions. The PCR products were cloned into the pMD18-T vector (Takara, Dalian, China) and sequenced in both directions using M13 primers. Homology Analysis The sequence was analyzed for similarity with known genes using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLASTx) (http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi). The nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequence of Bt-CuZnSOD cDNA were analyzed using software DNAMAN version 6 (http://www.lynnon.com). The signal peptide of Bt-CuZnSOD was predicted with the SignalP program version 3.0 (http://www. cbs.dtu.dk/services/SignalP). The molecular mass and theoretical isoelectric point (pI) of Bt-CuZnSOD were calculated using ProtParam tool (http://kr.expasy.org/tools/ protparam.html). The potential N-Glycosylation site was predicted by NetNGlyc 1.0 Server (http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/NetNGlyc/). Phylogenetic Analysis The deduced amino acid sequence of Bt-CuZnSOD was compared with ecCuZnSODs and icCuZnSODs of other species available in GenBank (Table 1). Alignment of multiple sequences was performed with the CLUSTAL W program version 2.0.12 at the European Bioinformatics Institute (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/clustalw). A phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the amino acid sequences (Table 1) using the Neighborjoining (NJ) algorithm in MEGA4 program (http://www.megasoftware.net/). The reliability of the branching was tested using bootstrap method (1,000 replications). Construction of Bt-CuZnSOD Expression Vector The open reading frame (ORF) of Bt-CuZnSOD was PCR amplified using the forward primer Bt-CuZnSOD-F 50 -GGATCCATGGCTGGCAAAACCAAAGC-30 (BamH1 restriction site is underlined and the start codon is shown in bold, italic) and reverse primer Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology Intracellular CuZnSOD of the Whitefly 5 Table 1. Sequences of CuZnSOD Used for the Alignment and Phylogenetic Analysis Species Invertebrates Platyhelminths Schistosoma mansoni Taenia solium Nematodes Caenorhabditis elegans Trichinella pseudospiralis Arthropods Insects Apis mellifera ligustica Bemisia tabaci Drosophila melanogaster Drosophila melanogaster Lasius niger Musca domestica Plutella xylostella Crustaceans Callinectes sapidus Macrobrachium rosenbergii Mollusks Aplysia californica Crassostrea gigas Vertebrates Fish Danio rerio Oncorhynchus mykiss Amphibia Bufo gargarizans Xenopus laevis Reptilia Caretta caretta Birds Gallus gallus Melopsittacus undulates Mammals Bos taurus Canis familiaris Homo sapiens Homo sapiens Mus musculus Abbreviation GenBank no. Type of CuZnSOD S. mansoni-ic T. solium-ic AAA29936.1 AAL66230.1 Intracellular CuZnSOD Intracellular CuZnSOD C. elegans-ec T. pseudospiralis-ic NP_499091.1 AAM76075.1 Extracellular CuZnSOD Intracellular CuZnSOD A. mellifera-ic B. tabaci-ic D. melanogaster-ec D. melanogaster-ic L. niger-ec M. domestica-ic P. xylostella-ic AY329355 HQ230310 AAL25378.1 P61851 AAV85459.1 AAR23787.1 BAD52256.1 Intracellular CuZnSOD Intracellular CuZnSOD Extracellular CuZnSOD Intracellular CuZnSOD Extracellular CuZnSOD Intracellular CuZnSOD Intracellular CuZnSOD C. sapidus-ec M. rosenbergii-ec AAF74772.1 AAZ29240.1 Extracellular CuZnSOD Extracellular CuZnSOD A. californica-ic C. gigas-ic AAM44291.1 CAD42722.1 Intracellular CuZnSOD Intracellular CuZnSOD D. rerio-ic O. mykiss-ic AAH55516.1 AAL79162.1 Intracellular CuZnSOD Intracellular CuZnSOD B. gargarizans-ic X. laevis-ic ABD75370.1 P15107.3 Intracellular CuZnSOD Intracellular CuZnSOD C. caretta-ic P80174.2 Intracellular CuZnSOD G. gallus-ic M. undulates-ic NP_990395.1 AAO72711.1 Intracellular CuZnSOD Intracellular CuZnSOD B. taurus-ic C. familiaris-ic H. sapiens-ec H. sapiens-ic M. musculus-ec NP_777040.1 NP_001003035 AAA66000.1 NP_000445.1 AAB51106.1 Intracellular CuZnSOD Intracellular CuZnSOD Extracellular CuZnSOD Intracellular CuZnSOD Extracellular CuZnSOD -ic indicates intracellular CuZnSOD; -ec indicates extracellular CuZnSOD. Bt-CuZnSOD-R 50 -GTCGACTCAATACTTGGTGATTCCAAT-30 (Sal1 restriction site is underlined). The PCR product was first ligated with pMD18-T vector (Takara, Dalian, China) and transformed into E. coli DH5a competent cell. For expression of GST fusion proteins, the pMD18-T-SOD vector was digested with BamH1 and Sal1, gel purified, and ligated into the pGEX-4T-3 plasmid (GE Healthcare, Piscataway, NJ) digested with the same enzymes. The recombinant plasmid was transformed into E. coli BL21 (DE3) pLysS cells (Novagen, Madison, WI) and positive clones were further confirmed by DNA sequencing. Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology 6 Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology, 2011 Expression and Purification of Bt-CuZnSOD The Bt-CuZnSOD was over-expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) pLysS cells by the addition of 0.5 mM isopropyl-1-thio-b-D-galactopyranoside (IPTG) to cells in logarithmic phase (OD600 approached 0.4–0.6). The growth conditions for expression were 301C and 200 rpm. After 3 h of induction, the cells were harvested by centrifugation at 5,000g for 15 min at 41C and resuspended in lysis buffer (50 mM Tris, pH 7.5, 10 mM EDTA, 5 mM DTT). The cells were sonicated at 400 W for 30 times with a 10 sec pause between sonication intervals on ice. The resulting suspension was centrifuged at 14,000g for 15 min at 41C to remove cell debris. The supernatant containing soluble proteins was ready for purification. The purification of fusion protein was performed using the GST gene fusion system as described (Guan and Dixon, 1991). In brief, the supernatant containing the soluble GST-SOD recombinant protein was incubated with Glutathione Sepharose 4B (GE Healthcare, Piscataway, NJ) equilibrated with 1 PBS for 30 min at room temperature. Bound fusion protein was then eluted and collected using elution buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl, 10 mM reduced glutathione, pH 8.0). The GST-tag was cleaved from fusion protein at 41C for 5 h using twenty units of thrombin solution which specifically recognizes and cleaves a sequence located upstream of the multiple cloning sites. The purity of the protein from various steps was evaluated by 12% sodium denaturing dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Enzyme Assays and Thermal Stability of Bt-CuZnSOD The enzyme activity of Bt-CuZnSOD was determined by the pyrogallol auto-oxidation method (Marklund and Marklund, 1974). One unit of enzyme activity was defined as the amount of enzyme that results in 50% inhibition of the auto-oxidation rate of pyrogallol under the assay condition. In order to determine the thermal stability of the purified Bt-CuZnSOD, the enzyme was incubated at various temperatures of 37, 50, 60, 70, 801C for 0 (control), 5, 10, 30, 60, 120, 240 min and the residual enzyme activity was measured. Three replicates of each treatment were conducted. The data obtained from treatments were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance. When a significant effect was detected at Po0.01 level, the mean values among the treatments were compared using an LSD test. All statistical analyses were conducted using the DPS data processing system software 8.50 for Windows (Tang and Feng, 2007). The in vivo Activity of Bt-CuZnSOD under High- and Low-Temperature Stress Newly emerged whiteflies were obtained from the culture and sexed under a stereomicroscope. For each treatment, 50 female whiteflies were collected in a 5 ml tube and exposed to 4, 25, 401C for 0 (control), 10, 30, and 60 min in a climatic chamber, respectively. After each treatment, the samples were frozen immediately with liquid nitrogen and stored at 801C. Bt-CuZnSOD activity of those samples was determined as described above. In all treatments, each assay was replicated three times. Statistical analyses for the differences among various sampling times of each temperature and comparison among the three temperature regimes within each sampling time were carried out. All statistical analyses were performed as described in ‘‘enzyme assays and thermal stability of Bt-CuZnSOD.’’ The in vivo Activity of SOD, CAT, POD in Response to Host Shift Whitefly adults obtained from the culture on cotton were transferred to tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum cv. NC89—an unfavorable host plant of the whitefly (Xu et al., 2011). Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology Intracellular CuZnSOD of the Whitefly 7 After 0 (control), 1, 3, and 5 days of feeding on the tobacco, whiteflies were collected for the measurement of the SOD, CAT, and POD activity, respectively. The collection method for the whiteflies and the determination of the total SOD activity were performed as described above. CAT activity was measured according to Goth (1991) and POD activity was performed with the method provided by Simon et al. (1974). All statistical analyses were performed as described in ‘‘enzyme assays and thermal stability of Bt-CuZnSOD.’’ RESULTS Cloning and Characterization Analyses of Bt-CuZnSOD The full-length Bt-CuZnSOD cDNA, obtained by 50 and 30 RACE PCR, consists of 907 bp, with a 471 bp ORF encoding for 157 amino acids residues. Bt-CuZnSOD cDNA sequence contains a 50 -untranslated region (UTR) of 111 nucleotides, a long 30 -UTR of 325 nucleotides including a stop codon (TGA), a putative polyadenylation consensus signal (AATAAA) and a poly (A) tail (Fig. 1A and B). The calculated molecular mass of the Bt-CuZnSOD is 16.08 kDa with an estimated pI of 5.85. SignalP program analysis revealed that no signal peptide is present in Bt-CuZnSOD. One putative N-glycosylation site was found, suggesting that Bt-CuZnSOD might be a glycoprotein (Fig. 1B). Bt-CuZnSOD cDNA sequence and its deduced amino acid sequence were submitted to the NCBI GenBank under accession number HQ230310. Homology Analyses of Bt-CuZnSOD Multiple sequences alignment revealed that Bt-CuZnSOD shares a common consensus pattern with the CuZnSODs of various species (Fig. 2). The residues required for copper (His-48, -50, -65, and -122) and zinc (His-65, -73, -82, and Asp 85) binding and the two cysteines (Cys-59 and Cys-148) involved in disulphide bridge formation are well conserved in different species. The disulfide bond Cys59-Cys148 stabilizes the loop region containing the metal ligands, whereas the Arg145 might guide the superoxide radical to the active site (Djinovic et al., 1992; Malinowski and Fridovich, 1979). Furthermore, two Cu/Zn signatures from 46 to 56 (GFHVHEFGDNT), and from 140 to 151 (GNAGARLSCGVI) are highly conserved as well (Fig. 2). Phylogenetic Analyses of Bt-CuZnSOD Using the NJ method, a phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the amino acid sequences of selected CuZnSODs. All the icCuZnSODs clustered together as a subgroup and ecCuZnSODs clustered to another group (Fig. 3). Bt-CuZnSOD was in the group of icCuZnSODs, suggesting that it is an intracellular CuZnSOD. In addition, Bt-CuZnSOD is clustered with A. mellifera and then formed a sister group to D. melanogaster and M. domestica. The topology approximately reflected the taxonomic classification of the corresponding species (Fig. 3). Expression and Purification of Recombinant Bt-CuZnSOD The recombinant Bt-CuZnSOD was successfully over-expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) when induced with 0.5 mM IPTG for 3 h at 301C as shown in Figure 4 (lane 1). Moreover, the over-expressed Bt-CuZnSOD was proved to be in soluble form after the Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology 8 Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology, 2011 Figure 1. Domain structure and amino acid sequence of Bt-CuZnSOD. (A) Bt-CuZnSOD is composed of two Cu/Zn SOD signatures (red), an N-glycosylation site (green) and disulfide bonds (red solid line). (B) The nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences of Bt-CuZnSOD cDNA. The letters in black box indicate the start codon (ATG) and the stop codon (TGA). The polyadenylation signal sequence (AATAAA) is double underlined. Potential N-glycosylation site is shown in bold green italic letters (NITD). The two conserved Bt-CuZnSOD signatures are shown in bold red letters. Highly conserved amino acids critical for Cu (His-48, -50, -65, and -122) and Zn (His-65, -73, -82, and Asp 85) binding are circled. Two cysteines (Cys-59 and Cys-148) predicted to be engaged in the disulfide bond formation are in blue box. analysis of the supernatant (lane 2). The expressed protein was purified with GST purification system. The purified GST-fusion protein migrated as a 42 kDa band which is consistent with the estimated molecular weight of the recombinant protein Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology Intracellular CuZnSOD of the Whitefly 9 Figure 2. Multiple sequences alignment of deduced protein sequence of the whitefly intracellular CuZnSOD (icCuZnSOD) with the extracellular CuZnSOD (ecCuZnSODs) and icCuZnSODs of other species. The conserved amino acid residues are shaded with different color. Four residues required for binding copper (Cu), four residues required for binding zinc (Zn), and two cysteines residues that form a disulfide bridge (SS) are indicated by arrows. The two conserved CuZnSOD signatures (Signature 1 and Signature 2) are boxed in blue. The consensus head and consensus tail for icCuZnSODs are boxed in black. See Table 1 for the abbreviation of species and GenBank accession numbers. (Bt-CuZnSOD: 16 kDa and GST tag: 26 kDa) (lane 5). When the fusion protein was further cleaved by thrombin, Bt-CuZnSOD migrated as a 16 kDa band during SDS-PAGE analysis (lane 6). Thermal Stability of Bt-CuZnSOD To study the temperature stability of Bt-CuZnSOD, we treated the purified BtCuZnSOD under different temperatures. As shown in Figure 5, Bt-CuZnSOD maintained more than 80% activity after incubated at 371C for 240 min. With the temperature of 50 and 601C, the enzymatic activity of Bt-CuZnSOD decreased significantly after 5 min (601C) and 10 min (501C) (Po0.01) but still retained up to 50% after 240 min incubation. When the temperature increased up to 70 and 801C, the enzyme activity decreased rapidly in the initial 30 min (Po0.01) and was completely inactivated after 120 min (801C) and 240 min (701C) incubation, respectively (Fig. 5). In vivo Activity of Bt-CuZnSOD under High- and Low-Temperature Stress Extreme temperature is one of the major stress factors faced by all living organisms. To characterize the effect of external temperature stimulus on the in vivo activity of Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology 10 Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology, 2011 Figure 3. A phylogenetic tree of ecCuZnSODs and icCuZnSODs amino acid sequences from 27 different species was constructed. Numbers at each branch node represent the values given by bootstrap analysis. The abbreviation of CuZnSODs and the GenBank accession numbers used to construct phylogenetic tree are given in Table 1. GenBank accession numbers are in brackets. Bt-CuZnSOD, female adult whiteflies were exposed to 4, 25, 401C for various time points (0, 10, 30, and 60 min). The differences of Bt-CuZnSOD activity between various sampling times are shown in Figure 6. No significant differences were detected at 251C from 0 to 60 min. When whiteflies were exposed at low temperature (41C) and high temperature (401C), still, no significant differences of the activity were observed after 10 and 30 min exposure compared with 0 min. After 60 min of incubation, both activities at 40 and 41C increased significantly compared with 0 min (marked with two asterisks as shown in Fig. 6) (Po0.01). Furthermore, we compared the activities of Bt-CuZnSOD among the three temperature regimes of each sampling time. No significant differences were found at 0, 10, and 30 min. However, after 60 min of exposure, significant differences were recorded among each of the three temperatures (marked with majuscules as shown in Fig. 6) (Po0.01). Interestingly, the activity of CuZnSOD increased significantly higher under 401C than that of 41C (Po0.01), Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology Intracellular CuZnSOD of the Whitefly 11 Figure 4. Expression and purification of the Bt-CuZnSOD. Lane M, molecular weight marker; lane 1, cell lysate after induced with 0.5 mM IPTG and grown at 301C for 3 h; lane 2, soluble portion of cell lysate; lane 3, insoluble portion of cell lysate; lane 4, un-induced cell lysate; lane 5, purified GST-Bt-CuZnSOD fusion protein; lane 6, GST-Bt-CuZnSOD fusion protein after treatment with thrombin. Figure 5. Thermal stability of Bt-CuZnSOD. The enzyme was incubated at various temperatures for different time intervals and the residual enzyme activities were measured. Maximal activity is shown as 100%. Bars represent means7SD (N 5 3). Significant differences among various time points of each temperature compared with control (0 min) are indicated with different letters (LSD test, Po0.01). indicating that the in vivo CuZnSOD activity of whitefly might be more sensitive to high temperature treatment. The in vivo Activity of SOD, CAT, POD of Whitefly in Response to Host Shift Furthermore, we measured the in vivo activity of SOD, CAT, and POD in the whitefly after transferring from cotton to tobacco for various days as shown in Figure 7. After transferring and feeding on new host for 1, 3, and 5 days, we found that the activity of SOD significantly increased compared with 0 day (Po0.01). However, no significant differences were found for the activity of CAT and in contrast, the activity of POD significantly decreased with the lapse of the days (Po0.01). Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology 12 Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology, 2011 Figure 6. In vivo Bt-CuZnSOD activity analysis of whitefly exposed to different temperatures for different time intervals. Bars represent means7SD (N 5 3). Significant differences between various sampling times of each temperature compared with control (0 min) are indicated with two asterisks (LSD test, Po0.01). Significant differences among the three temperature regimes within each sampling time are indicated with majuscules (LSD test, Po0.01). Figure 7. In vivo activity of SOD, CAT, POD in the whitefly in response to host shift. Bars represent means7SD (N 5 3). Significant differences of each treatment compared with control (0 day) are indicated with two asterisks (LSD test, Po0.01). DISCUSSION B. tabaci MEAM1 causes billions of dollars worth of crop losses each year worldwide through phloem feeding, transmission of plant viruses, induction of phytotoxic disorders, and excretion of honeydew (Brown et al., 1995). MEAM1 invaded China in the mid-1990s and has become one of the most important agricultural pests because of its wide range of host plants, high survival rate under stressful conditions and ability of transmitting plant viruses. Many of these parameters of MEAM1 are critical to its global invasion and displacement of the indigenous species (Luo et al., 2002). Shah et al. (2007) indicated that the ability of the whitefly to survive in extreme subtropical climates is related to the regulation of SOD. Thus, we speculate that the prominent antioxidant—SOD plays important roles in the successful invasion of MEAM1 worldwide. To investigate its potential function, one type of SODs—Bt-CuZnSOD gene was successfully cloned, expressed, and purified from whitefly MEAM1 in our study. Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology Intracellular CuZnSOD of the Whitefly 13 The ORF of Bt-CuZnSOD includes 471 nucleotides encoding a deduced peptide of 157 amino acids residues (Fig. 1B). No signal peptide in Bt-CuZnSOD was predicted by Signal P, indicating that it should be a member of the intracellular CuZnSOD family (Folz et al., 1997). Multiple sequences alignment of deduced amino acid of icCuZnSODs and ecCuZnSODs from various species shows that all ecCuZnSODs have a signal peptide extension in front of the N-terminus, whereas such a signal peptide is absent in icCuZnSODs. We noticed that all icCuZnSODs have a consensus head sequence (KAVCVL) in the N-terminus and a consensus tail sequence (GVIGI) in the C-terminus (Fig. 2). Furthermore, as shown in Figure 2, the eight metal-coordination residues are highly conserved in all icCuZnSODs and ecCuZnSODs selected for alignment, indicating that these sites are essential for its structure and function. CuZnSOD is considered as a general stress responsive factor influenced by a variety of environmental stresses at transcriptional and/or translational levels (Zelko et al., 2002). Temperature stress was reported as one of the key mediators of the formation of ROS (Harari et al., 1989; Rauen et al., 1999). In our experiment, whitefly MEAM1 was exposed to high (401C), normal (251C), and low (41C) temperatures. As a result, the activity of Bt-CuZnSOD increased significantly after 60 min under 40 and 41C. In addition, the in vivo CuZnSOD activity of the whitefly is more sensitive to high-temperature stress. Our observation is consistent with previous studies in G. orientalis CuZnSOD (Kim et al., 2005a), Bombus ignitus CuZnSOD (Choi et al., 2006) and Phascolosoma esculenta MnSOD (Wang et al., 2010a). The ability of the MEAM1 to survive in extreme subtropical climates might be related to CuZnSOD which acts as an antioxidant protein by reducing the high level of intracellular superoxide radical induced by high temperature. Adaptation to new host plants may assist in the successful invasion of the whitefly to new environments. However, host shift from a favorable plant to an unfavorable plant is always a big challenge for insects. Jankovic-Hladni et al. (1997) reported that a nutritionally deficient food and the presence of secondary metabolites in an unfavorable new host plant induced detoxification and antioxidant responses in Lymantria dispar, and feeding the moth larvae on an unfavorable host plant led to increases in GST and SOD activities. Interestingly, in our study, an increase of SOD activity was also found when whiteflies were transferred from cotton to tobacco—an unfavorable host. We speculate that adaptation to an unfavorably host plant might activate the antioxidant responses in the whitefly and SOD probably plays an important role during this process. In conclusion, the full length of CuZnSOD was successfully cloned, and characterized from whitefly. Its potential functions in antioxidant defense, which might contribute to the successful invasion of the whitefly, were elucidated. 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