DETECTION AND QUANTIFICATION OF A VERY HIGH-DENSITY-LIPOPROTEIN IN DIFFERENT TISSUES OF TRIATOMA-INFESTANS DURING THE LAST NYMPHAL AND ADULT STAGES

The presence of a very high density lipoprotein (VHDL), an hexameric p rotein, was explored in different tissues of Triatoma infestans throug hout the Last nymphal and adult stages, and in egg extracts by Western blot assays, The VHDL was always detected in both, hemolymph and fat body, during the above mentioned stages and it was also observed in th e buffer soluble fraction of testis and egg homogenates, An enzyme-lin ked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure the VHDL titer in these tissues, Hemolymph VHDL reaches a maximum value before the last molt, then it abruptly declines in males and females just after emerge nce, but during adult life it increases again, Fat body VHDL decreases slowly and continuously during the nymph growth reaching a minimum va lue prior to molting, and in the first week of adult life the values w ere even two-fold lower; then, it shows a different cycle of accumulat ion and depletion in males and females, In adult testis the VHDL under goes a cycle similar to the one observed in male fat body, This protei n increases progressively during embryonic development and, at the tim e of larval hatching it reaches its maximum value, The hexameric prote in presents homologies in its N-terminal sequence with storage hexamer ins of Diptera, Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevi er Science Ltd.