MEMBERS OF THE GROUP (Active in 2018)
Research Technician José Carlos Montañés
Laboratory Technician Viviana Pagone
Graduate Student Carlos Rojano
HIGHLIGHTS OF 2018
Endocrinology of insect vitellogenesis
We identified juvenile hormone acid methyltransferase as a key enzyme in juvenile hormone synthesis in Blattella germanica. In addition, we uncovered differential expression and compensatory transcriptional regulation between different insulin-like peptides.
RNAi pathway
In collaboration with other IBE groups we discovered that the activities of Argonaute-1 (Ago1) and Ago2 in the miRNA and siRNA pathways have been conserved at least from cockroaches to flies, and we demonstrated that Ago2 is responsible for degrading but not for selecting siRNAs.
2018 SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Rubio, M., Maestro, J.L., Piulachs, M.D. and Bellés, X. (2018). Conserved association of Argonaute 1 and 2 proteins with miRNA and siRNA pathways throughout insect evolution, from cockroaches to flies. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta: Gene Regulatory Mechanisms 1861, 554-590.
Domínguez, C. and Maestro, J.L. (2018). Expression of juvenile hormone acid O-methyltransferase and juvenile hormone synthesis in Blattella germanica. Insect Science 25,787-796.
2018 FUNDED PROJECTS
Title: RNAi “a la carta” para el control de cucarachas.
Funded by: MINECO (Ministry of Science, Spain).
Reference: CGL2016-76011-R.
PI: M.D. Piulachs y J.L. Maestro
Date: 2016-2019
99.000€
Title: Ajuts de suport a la recerca de Catalunya.
Funded by: AGAUR. 2017-2019.
Reference: 2017-SGR 1030
PI: Xavier Bellés
Date: 2017-2019
FIGURE CAPTION
Immunolocalization of BgILP5 in the brain of an adult B. germanica female showing labeled insulin-producing cells (IPCs) in the pars intercerebralis and the three spatial axes. Lower right bottom corner corresponds to the front. The figure is produced by superimposing 50 images using the Zeiss AxioImager Z1 microscope (Apotome) software.