Metamorphosis is a development process involving the programmed cell death of obsolete larval organs. Aspartic proteinase cathepsin D (BmCatD) is involved in the silkworm Bombyx mori metamorphosis. Here we show a novel functional role of cysteine proteinase cathepsin B during B. mori metamorphosis. The B. mori cathepsin B (BmCatB) was expressed in the fat body, epidermis, ovary, testis, and hemocyte of the larval and pupal stages. The BmCatB was ecdysoneinduced, expressed in the fat body of the molting, the final larval instar and pupal stages, and its expression led to programmed cell death. RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated BmCatB knock-down inhibited the programmed cell death of larval and pupal fat body, resulting in the arrest of larval-pupal transformation. BmCatB RNAi is up-regulated the expression of BmCatD. Based on these results we concluded that BmCatB is critically involved in the histolysis of the larval and pupal fat body, indicating that BmCatB and BmCatD are mutally regulated during silkworm metamorphosis.

Tilapia 난과 혈청의 cysteine proteinase 저해제(cystatin)의 산업적 이용 적성을 평가하고자 이의 저온 저장성과 가열에 대한 열 안정성을 살펴보았다. Tilapia 난과 난의 균질 상등액을 에서 3일간 보관하면서 cystatin 활성도의 변화를 측정한 결과 난의 경우는 저장 중 큰 변화가 없었으나, 난 균질 상등액의 경우는 활성이 차츰 감소하여 저장 3일 후에는 초기 활성의 약 65%로 줄어들었다. 냉동과 해동에 따른 cyst