Identification of a New Peritrophic Membrane Protein from Larval Holotrichia parallela (Coleoptera: Motschulsky)

Peritrophic membranes (PMs) are composed of proteins, proteoglycans and chitin that play important roles in the structural formation and function of the PM. This study identified and characterized a new chitin binding protein named HpCBP45 by immunoscreening of the Holotrichia parallela larvae midgut expression library. The predicted amino acid sequence indicates that it contains eight tandem chitin binding domains belonging to the peritrophin-A family. The HpCBP45 protein was expressed as a recombinant protein in the yeast Pichia pastoris and chitin binding assay demonstrated that recombinant HpCBP45 protein could strongly bind to chitin. qRT-PCR analysis showed that HpCBP45 was mainly localized in the midgut, further confirming the H. parallela PM belongs to Type I PM. The discovery and characterization of the peritrophic membrane protein HpCBP45 provides a basis for the further investigation of its biochemical and physiological functions in H. parallela.