Haem detoxification by an insect

Marcus F. Oliveira, José R. Silva, Marílvia Dansa-Petretski, Wanderley de Souza (), Ulysses Lins, Cláudia M. S. Braga, Hatisaburo Masuda and Pedro L. Oliveira
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Marcus F. Oliveira: Departamento de Bioqíumica Médica
José R. Silva: Centro de Biociências e Biotecnologia, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Campos dos Goytacazes
Marílvia Dansa-Petretski: Centro de Biociências e Biotecnologia, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Campos dos Goytacazes
Wanderley de Souza: Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Cidade Universitária
Ulysses Lins: Instituto de Microbiologia Prof. Paulo de Ges
Cláudia M. S. Braga: Petrobrás/CENPES, Setor de Química Orgânica, Cidade Universitária
Hatisaburo Masuda: Departamento de Bioqíumica Médica
Pedro L. Oliveira: Departamento de Bioqíumica Médica

Nature, 1999, vol. 400, issue 6744, 517-518

Abstract: Abstract Haem is involved in many biological reactions, including oxygen transport, respiration and photosynthesis. In the free state, however, haem can generate reactive oxygen species that can damage biological molecules. It can also disrupt the phospholipid bilayer of cell membranes1. In Plasmodium parasites, which are the aetiological agents of malaria disease, up to 80% of host-cell haemoglobin is digested2, leaving the free haem group to be detoxified in the parasite's food vacuole by polymerizing it into a harmless dark-brown crystalline structure called malaria pigment or haemozoin3. Haem detoxification is also a challenge for blood-sucking insects, which digest several times their own weight of vertebrate blood during a blood meal. Here we show that haem polymerization into haemozoin is not exclusive to Plasmodium: it also occurs in the midgut of the blood-sucking insect Rhodnius prolixus(Hemiptera), an important vector of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas’ disease.

Date: 1999
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DOI: 10.1038/22910

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