Molecular Physiology and Evolution of Insect Digestive Systems

About this book

This book provides a unique blend of data on insect life spans, physiology, enzymology and other molecular features associated with digestion and nutrient absorption to enrich the knowledge on insects and to disclose putative molecular targets for the development of new insect control technologies and for improving insect raising procedures to be used as food and feed. With this aim, the book overviews the types of diets consumed by insects, describing their chemical components demanding digestion and discusses the evolutionary selective pressures on insects associated with feeding. Digestive enzymes are classified and detailed according to their activity on substrates and their evolutionary protein families. The technical details on how to obtain reliable enzymological parameters are discussed. The book reviews the structural changes in enzymes associated with the adaptation of insects to new diets and in avoiding natural plant inhibitors. Midgut features that enhance digestive and nutrient absorption efficiency and their underlying molecular mechanisms are described regarding insects pertaining to key points in evolution. Evolutionary trends of the mechanisms of digestion and nutrient absorption are discussed.

Contents

1. Patterns of insect evolution
2. Overview of insect midgut function
3. Types and chemistry of diets
4. Ordinary digestive enzymes
5. Midgut cells, microvillar membranes and secretory mechanisms
6. Midgut pH buffering, nutrient absorption, fluid fluxes, and enzyme recycling
7. Midgut extracellular layers and their function
8. Endocrine regulation of insect digestion
9. Recruitment of lysosomal cysteine and aspartic endopeptidases as digestive enzymes
10. Plant, bacterial, and fungal cell wall degrading enzymes
11. Mechanisms of avoiding the action of plant inhibitors on digestion
12. Role of microorganisms in digestion and nutrition
13. Molecular view of digestion and absorption in the major insect orders
14. General trends in the evolution of digestive systems
15. New technologies of insect control that act through the gut

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Biography

Walter R. Terra has a B.sc in biology and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and is now Senior Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Sao Paulo. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the recipient of the National Medal of the Scientific Merit. He was head of the Biochemistry Department, vice-director of the Institute of Chemistry of the same University and has been the General Secretary of the Brazilian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology since 1992. Professor Terra is a member of the editorial board of the leading journals of his area of expertise and was an ad hoc adviser of most funding agencies in Brazil and some from abroad like NIH and NSF (USA) and Wellcome Trust (UK). His papers deal with the molecular physiology of insect digestion, including the 3D analysis of chosen midgut proteins and evolution.

Clelia Ferreira has a BSc in biology and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and is now a Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Sao Paulo. She was the coordinator of graduate studies in biochemistry at the University of Sao Paulo and was an ad hoc adviser of many of the leading journals of her area of expertise and of most funding agencies in Brazil. Professor Ferreira has a distinguished 1A Research Grant from the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq). Her papers deal mainly with the effect of noxious plant glycosides on insect digestive enzymes and with the active site of glycosyl hydrolases using both kinetics and active site mutagenesis technologies.

Carlos P. Silva graduated in Biological Sciences from the Federal University of Ceara (1986), a master's degree in Biochemistry from the Federal University of Ceara (1990), a doctorate in Biological Sciences (Biochemistry) from the University of Sao Paulo (1994) and post-doctorate from the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Bath, England (2002). He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the Center for Biological Sciences at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil). He held the position of Coordinator of the Graduate Course in Biology at UENF (2003-2005), Head of the Department of Biochemistry at UFSC (2010-2012), and Coordinator of the Postgraduate Program in Biochemistry at UFSC (2014- 2016). He has experience in the areas of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, with emphasis on Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Insects, acting mainly on the following themes: Digestion in Insects and Crustaceans, Coleoptera, Bruchinae, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Decapoda, Entomophagy and Pest Control.