0000000001139854
AUTHOR
Paul Schlöder
Long-term effects of the trehalase inhibitor trehazolin on trehalase activity in locust flight muscle.
SUMMARY Trehalase (EC 3.2.1.28) hydrolyzes the main haemolymph sugar of insects, trehalose, into the essential cellular substrate glucose. Trehalase in locust flight muscle is bound to membranes that appear in the microsomal fraction upon tissue fractionation, but the exact location in vivo has remained elusive. Trehalase has been proposed to be regulated by a novel type of activity control that is based on the reversible transformation of a latent (inactive) form into an overt (active) form. Most trehalase activity from saline-injected controls was membrane-bound (95%) and comprised an overt form (∼25%) and a latent form (75%). Latent trehalase could be assayed only after the integrity of …
The toxic and lethal effects of the trehalase inhibitor trehazolin in locusts are caused by hypoglycaemia
SUMMARY The main blood sugar of locusts is trehalose, which is hydrolysed to two glucose units by trehalase. Homogenates of locust flight muscles are rich in trehalase activity, which is bound to membranes. A minor fraction of trehalase is in an overt form while the remainder is latent, i.e. active only after impairing membrane integrity. Trehazolin, an antibiotic pseudosaccharide,inhibits locust flight muscle trehalase with apparent Ki-and EC50 values of 10–8 mol l–1and 10–7 mol l–1, respectively. Trehazolin is insecticidal: 50 μg injected into locusts completely and selectively blocked the overt form of muscle trehalase (with little effect on latent activity) and killed 50% of the insects…