Effect of a toxic protein isolated from zea mays seeds on the development and survival of the cowpea weevil, callosobruchus maculatus

Title:Effect of a toxic protein isolated from zea mays seeds on the development and survival of the cowpea weevil, callosobruchus maculatus

Volume: 7 Issue: 4

Author(s): Maria Ligia Rodrigues Macedo, Mirela Batista Coelho, Maria das Gracas Machado Freire, Olga Lima Tavares Machado, Sergio Marangoni and Jose Carnillo Novello

Affiliation:

Abstract: A new toxic glycoprotein (Zeatoxin) has been isolated from Zea mays and sequenced. The toxin is a single polypeptide chain, with Mr of 10 kDa . Zeatoxin was not digested by a mixture of pepsin and papain or by rnidgut preparations of C. maculatus. A diet of artificial seeds (final concentration, 0.25%) was lethal to 50% of C. maculatus . These results show that Zeatoxin is a new toxic glycoprotein to C. maculatus. A search in the database indicated that the N-terrninal sequence show no homology to any other known protein.

Cite this article as:

Macedo Ligia Rodrigues Maria, Coelho Batista Mirela, Freire das Gracas Machado Maria, Machado Lima Tavares Olga, Marangoni Sergio and Novello Carnillo Jose, Effect of a toxic protein isolated from zea mays seeds on the development and survival of the cowpea weevil, callosobruchus maculatus, Protein & Peptide Letters 2000; 7 (4) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/092986650704221206162941