Purification of Sarcophaga (fleshfly) lectin and detection of sarcotoxins in the culture medium of NIH-Sape-4, an embryonic cell line of Sarcophaga peregrina.

An established cell line originating from a Sarcophaga peregrina (fleshfly) embryo, NIH-Sape-4, was found to synthesize mRNAs for Sarcophaga lectin and sarcotoxin IA, but not those for storage protein or 25 kDa protein. These four proteins are known to be synthesized in the fat-body of third-instar larvae, and the two former in particular are known to participate in the defence mechanism of this insect and to be induced in response to injury of the body wall. Thus the embryonic cell line NIH-Sape-4 synthesizes certain defence proteins constitutively. This cell line will be useful for large-scale purification of Sarcophaga lectin, since 50 micrograms of purified Sarcophaga lectin could be obtained from about 400 ml of culture medium.