Alteration of the Activities of Trypsin and Leucine Aminopeptidase in Gypsy Moth Caterpillars Exposed to Dietary Cadmium

• Published in: Water, air, and soil pollution Vol. 226; no. 11; pp. 1 - 13
• Main Authors: Vlahović, Milena, Ilijin, Larisa, Mrdaković, Marija, Gavrilović, Anja, Matić, Dragana, Lazarević, Jelica, Mataruga, Vesna Perić
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.11.2015; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Amino acids; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Biological research; Biomarkers; Butterflies & moths; Cadmium; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Detoxification; Diet; Digestive system; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental monitoring; Enzymatic activity; Enzymes; Food; Food chains; Food contamination & poisoning; Gastrointestinal diseases; Gypsy moth; Hatching; Hydrogeology; Indicator organisms; Insects; Larvae; Lymantria dispar; Moths; Organisms; Physiology; Pollutants; Pollution; Proteases; Proteomics; Soil Science & Conservation; Studies; Trypsin; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Serbia; Biomarkers; Trypsin; Leucine aminopeptidase; Dietary cadmium; Gypsy moth
• ISSN: 0049-6979; 1573-2932
• DOI: 10.1007/s11270-015-2651-8

This paper examined the gut digestive enzymes, trypsin and leucine aminopeptidase (LAP), in gypsy moth ( Lymantria dispar , L.) larvae exposed to cadmium. We analyzed the 3-day acute effect, chronic effects from hatching until sacrifice, and recovery from long-term dietary treatment with cadmium concentrations of 10 and 30 μg Cd/g dry food. The activities of both examined enzymes declined at the higher level of cadmium after both acute and chronic treatments and did not recover within 3 days of feeding a diet with no added cadmium. Leucine aminopeptidase was more sensitive because its activity was inhibited after both short-term treatments. Three trypsin and one leucine aminopeptidase isoform were detected by electrophoresis. Egg hatches (full-sib families) differed in enzyme activities, index of phenotypic plasticity, and isozyme expression after different treatments. Statistically significant positive correlations between these enzymes pointed to common genetic regulation. Moreover, variances were higher for the control group than for cadmium treatment groups implying that these proteolytic enzymes did not participate directly in detoxification. These results suggest that, with additional research to discover the mechanisms of enzyme inhibition, trypsin and leucine aminopeptidase might be used as biomarkers to indicate the severity of gastrointestinal disease due to cadmium intake.