Octopamine is likely to be an important neuroactive molecule in invertebrates. Here we report the molecular cloning of theDrosophila melanogastergene, which encodes tyramine β-hydroxylase (TBH), the enzyme that catalyzes the last step in octopamine biosynthesis. The deduced amino acid sequence of the encoded protein exhibits 39% identity to the evolutionarily related mammalian dopamine β-hydroxylase enzyme. We generated a polyclonal antibody against the protein product ofTβhgene, and we demonstrate that the TBH expression pattern is remarkably similar to the previously described octopamine immunoreactivity inDrosophila. We further report the creation of null mutations at theTβhlocus, which result in complete absence of TBH protein and blockage of the octopamine biosynthesis.Tβh-null flies are octopamine-less but survive to adulthood. They are normal in external morphology, but the females are sterile, because although they mate, they retain fully developed eggs. Finally, we demonstrate that this defect in egg laying is associated with the octopamine deficit, because females that have retained eggs initiate egg laying when transferred onto octopamine-supplemented food.
多巴胺可能是无脊椎动物体内一种重要的神经活性分子。我们在此报告了黑腹果蝇
基因的分子克隆,该
基因编码
酪胺β-羟化酶(TBH),它是催化章胺
生物合成最后一步的酶。编码蛋白的
氨基酸序列推导结果显示,它与哺乳动物进化相关的
多巴胺β-羟化酶有39%的相同性。我们生成了针对Tβh
基因蛋白产物的多克隆
抗体,并证明TBH的表达模式与之前描述的果蝇中的章胺免疫反应非常相似。我们进一步报告了在Tβhlocus上产生的无效突变,这些突变导致TBH蛋白完全缺失,并阻断了
章鱼胺的
生物合成。它们的外部形态正常,但雌性不育,因为它们虽然交配,但仍保留发育完全的卵。最后,我们证明了这种产卵缺陷与缺乏
章鱼胺有关,因为保留卵的雌蝇在转移到补充
章鱼胺的食物上时开始产卵。