Membrane-penetrating trehalase from silkworm Bombyx mori. Molecular cloning and localization in larval midgut.

The main blood sugar in insects, trehalose, differs from glucose in mammals. To incorporate trehalose into cells and utilize it, tissue cells possess the enzyme trehalase (EC3.2.1.28), which catalyses trehalose into glucose, in the organellar membrane or in the cytoplasm. Soluble and membrane-bound trehalase proteins have been isolated from insects. To date, however, only genes encoding the soluble trehalase have been reported in insects. Soluble trehalase is therefore believed to become localized on the cell surface via modification. In contrast, cDNAs encoding trehalase localized on the apical cell surface via the glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchor have been isolated from mammalian small intestines. The amino acid sequence contains a specific hydrophobic region and an upstream omega site, which is cleaved for glycosylphosphatidylinositol-attachment, at the C-terminus. Here, we describe a cDNA from the silkworm Bombyx mori that encodes a novel trehalase (type-2) with one transmembrane domain and lacking the omega site. Immunoblotting and immunohistochemical analyses demonstrated that in the midgut tissue of Bombyx larvae, soluble trehalase-1 is present mainly in goblet cell cavities, but membrane-bound trehalase-2 is predominantly seen on the visceral muscle surrounding the midgut. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a cDNA encoding trehalase that penetrates the cell membrane in insects and its cellular localization.