Rosario-Rodríguez, Ramón A.

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    Characterization of protein expression profile during development of the Puerto Rican monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus megalippe f. portoricensis A. Clark, 1941 (Lepidoptera: Danainae)
    (2015) Rosario-Rodríguez, Ramón A.; Acevedo Suárez, Carlos A.; College of Arts and Sciences - Sciences; Santos Flores, Carlos J.; Vélez Díaz, Ana V.; Department of Biology; Ruíz López, Teodoro M.
    Danaus plexippus megalippe, a non-migratory sub-species of the monarch butterfly, is a resident species in Puerto Rico. Molecular studies in monarch butterflies are fairly scarce and a protein profile has never been documented. Given that it has been petitioned to place the monarch butterfly in the Endangered Species Act, understanding its development has become a priority. We optimized an SDS-PAGE protocol in order to compare the protein profiles of the three developmental stages of Danaus plexippus megalippe and performed BCA protein assays to determine the amount of protein per cell. We found that both the larvae and the adult have near identical protein profiles and show two prominent bands at approximately 40 and 70 kDa. The pupa shows several other bands but also consistently expresses the 40 and 70 kDa bands. Based on the size of lepidopteran proteins that have been described, these bands could represent antitrypsin and a Na+/K+ ATPase subunit. However, further studies are necessary in order to characterize these protein bands. In BCA assays the pupa has significantly more protein than the larvae or the adult, which is consistent with the changes happening due to metamorphosis. In addition, we found that adults who eclose the pupa but never stretched their wings and died, presented high variability in their protein profiles.