昆虫的复杂性表皮色素沉着中文.docVIP

彭章川 112012331002074 家蚕基因组生物学国家重点实验室 昆虫的复杂性表皮色素沉着 丙氨酰多巴胺 图一：昆虫中的一般色素产生反应。虚线所覆盖的区域是脊椎动物所使用的主要途径。整个图画接示昆虫使用更复杂的途径。类胡萝卜素和其它色素的生成途径是不包括在该图中的。箭头并不总是表示一个单一的反应。PO：酚氧化酶，其中包括酪氨酸酶和漆酶丙氨酰多巴胺 图2（）机制。酪氨酸酶Insect cuticle, the exoskeleton that protects the soft-bodied animals, plays a crucial role in the biology and physiology of all insects. The cuticle serves not only as the protective covering against invading parasites and pathogens, but also supports the body parts,prevents dehydration of the animals,allows gaseous exchanges and provides a venue for waste disposal, and a variety of other functions. Insect cuticle exhibits tremendous variations in its color and hardness, not only among different insects, but also among different life stages of the same insect. Extensive studies have been carried out on the biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, and immunology of pigment production in insects and other arthropods. Yet,we know very little about structural aspects and the associated molecular genetic of the cuticular pigments. Being the largest group of animals in the animal kingdom, insects come in a variety of colors and color patterns that are governed by a complex set of enzymes, pathways, control elements,and genetics. The color of insect cuticle varies from jet black to completely color-less. In higher animals, the body color is vastly due to melanin pigment. In the case of vertebrate animals especially humans, not only the structural basis of melanin polymorphism has been clearly established, but even the molecular genetics mechanisms underlying these differences have been pinpointed clearly to certain extent. A combination of different amounts of pheomelanin and eumelanin and their differential distributions gives rise to the general variations in the skin color of mammals (Ito and Wakamatsu, 2008; Figure 1 boxed). The chemistry, molecular biology, and pathology associated with these pigment production pathways are also reasonably well established. In the case of