Olfactory soluble proteins of cockroaches

Fire have characterized antennae-specific proteins from three species of co ckroaches Periplaneta americana, P. fuliginosa and Blattella germanica. Bas ed on the N-terminal sequences, cockroach antennal proteins can be divided into three groups: (i) proteins with amino acid similarity to OS-D, a produ ct of gene cloning from Drosophila melanogaster, (ii) proteins similar to a phasmid, Sipyloidea sipylus, olfactory protein, and (iii) cockroach specif ic proteins without any relevant similarity to other known proteins. Wherea s most of the antennae-specific proteins were detected in extracts from mal e and female antennae, some proteins are sex specific. (C) 1999 Elsevier Sc ience Ltd. All rights reserved.