Diversity of expressed cytochrome P450 genes in the adult Mediterranean Fruit Fly, Ceratitis capitata

The cytochrome P450s comprise a superfamily of mostly microsomal haemoprote ins which play a dominant role in the metabolism of a variety of endogenous and foreign compounds. The use of a degenerate PCR primer targeted to the haem-binding decapeptide unique to the cytochrome P450 superfamily resulted in the identification of 14 novel cytochrome P450s in the Mediterranean Fr uit Fly, Ceratitis capitata. Analysis of the relative frequency of individu al isoforms within the pool of isolated sequences suggests that the CYP4 an d CYP6 P450 families contain the most highly expressed isoforms in adult C. capitata. Phylogenetic analyses of the conceptual amino acid translations of PCR-amplified cDNAs provides evidence that one of isolated sequences may represent a new P450 family.