
The leaves of green plants as well as a cyanobacterium, a red alga, and fungi contain insulin-like antigens
2002; Associação Brasileira de Divulgação Científica; Volume: 35; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1590/s0100-879x2002000300004
ISSN1414-431X
AutoresL.B. Silva, S Santos, C.R. Azevedo, Marco Antonio L. Cruz, Thiago M. Venâncio, Cleonor Cavalcante, Adriana Ferreira Uchôa, Spartaco Astolfi Filho, Antônia Elenir Amâncio Oliveira, Kátia Valevski Sales Fernandes, J. Xavier‐Filho,
Tópico(s)Plant Molecular Biology Research
ResumoWe report the detection of insulin-like antigens in a large range of species utilizing a modified ELISA plate assay and Western blotting. We tested the leaves or aerial parts of species of Rhodophyta (red alga), Bryophyta (mosses), Psilophyta (whisk ferns), Lycopodophyta (club mosses), Sphenopsida (horsetails), gymnosperms, and angiosperms, including monocots and dicots. We also studied species of fungi and a cyanobacterium, Spirulina maxima. The wide distribution of insulin-like antigens, which in some cases present the same electrophoretic mobility as bovine insulin, together with results recently published by us on the amino acid sequence of an insulin isolated from the seed coat of jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis) and from the developing fruits of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), suggests that pathways depending on this hormone have been conserved through evolution.
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