Zazali Alias

By Zazali Alias

Glutathione transferases are multifunctional enzymes. Some of the known functions of the enzymes are biotransformation of xenobiotics, countering oxidative stress and participating in cell regulatory functions. As the isoforms present in number of classes the purification of a particular isoform for characterization is a challenging task. In insect, the study of GSTs is focusing on their roles in development of insecticide resistance. There were evident that certain classes of the enzymes are reactive towards conjugating the pesticides. This makes GSTs one of the enzymes of intention in the discipline of pesticide control management.

Part of the book: Insecticides Resistance

By Vennobaashini Venu and Zazali Alias

D. melanogaster glutathione transferases E6 and E7 (DmGSTE6 and DmGSTE7) were successfully cloned, purified, and biochemically characterized. The recombinant proteins were readily purified using the combination of both anionic and BSP/GSH-agarose affinity chromatography. Although both GSTs have significant identity in their amino acid sequence, each enzyme displayed unique biochemical characteristics. Both recombinant proteins were only active toward 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB), 1,2-dichloro-4-nitrobenzene (DCNB), and p-nitrobenzyl chloride (p-NBC) with significant difference in catalytic activities. The findings have shown that neither GSTE6 nor GSTE7 was able to counter oxidative stress. Comparatively, GSTE7 was a more efficient enzyme at turning over DCNB and p-NBC, based on its kcat/Km values which were of 0.183 and 2.25 min−1 mM−1, respectively. Thin-layer chromatography analysis showed that both isoforms were not able to conjugate several tested insecticides. The inhibition kinetics of natural products and dyes toward GSTs in vitro revealed that phenol red possessed inhibition effects only on GSTE6 while rose bengal and cardiogreen inhibit significantly on both GSTE6 and GSTE7. In contrast, methylene blue dye and trans-chalcone have been shown to stimulate GSTE7 activity toward CDNB.

Part of the book: Drosophila melanogaster

By Tan Yong Hao, Siti Nasuha Hamzah and Zazali Alias

This review is looking at the way Musca domestica defends itself against harmful molecules. One of the most notable enemies is against oxidative stress. Over the years there were reports that indicated the development of resistance on range of pesticides that are used against the flies. Researches have demonstrated that there are several functional protein molecules which contribute directly or indirectly as a response to oxidative stress and resistance against insecticides. As currently, the whole genome sequencing of the organisms has enabled future study to be conducted in evaluating the behaviour of the targeted protein/enzyme in response to oxidative stress and intake of insecticides in the flies.

Part of the book: Trends in Integrated Insect Pest Management