The mosquito Aedes aegypti undertakes a shift in carbohydrate metabolism during embryogenesis, including an increase in the activity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), a key gluconeogenic enzyme, at critical steps of embryo development. All eukaryotes studied to date present two PEPCK isoforms, namely PEPCK-M (mitochondrial) and PEPCK-C (cytosolic). In A. aegypti, however, these proteins are so far uncharacterized. In the present work we describe two A. aegypti PEPCK isoforms by sequence alignment, protein modeling, and transcription analysis in different tissues, as well as PEPCK enzymatic activity assays in mitochondrial and cytoplasmic compartments during oogenesis and embryogenesis. First, we characterized the protein sequences compared to other organisms, and identified conserved sites and key amino acids. We also performed structure modeling for AePEPCK(M) and AePEPCK(C), identifying highly conserved structural sites, as well as a signal peptide in AePEPCK(M) localized in a very hydrophobic region. Moreover, after blood meal and during mosquito oogenesis and embryogenesis, both PEPCKs isoforms showed different transcriptional profiles, suggesting that mRNA for the cytosolic form is transmitted maternally, whereas the mitochondrial form is synthesized by the zygote. Collectively, these results improve our understanding of mosquito physiology and may yield putative targets for developing new methods for A. aegypti control.

蚊子埃及伊蚊承担了在碳水化合物代谢胚胎发生过程中移位，包括在磷酸烯醇丙酮酸羧激酶（PEPCK）的活性的增加，一个关键糖异生酶，在胚胎发育的关键步骤。迄今为止研究的所有真核生物都存在两种 PEPCK 亚型，即 PEPCK-M（线粒体）和 PEPCK-C（细胞溶质）。然而，在A. aegypti中，这些蛋白质迄今尚未表征。在目前的工作中，我们描述了两个A. aegypti通过序列比对、蛋白质建模和不同组织中的转录分析，以及在卵子发生和胚胎发生过程中线粒体和细胞质区室中的 PEPCK 酶活性测定，PEPCK 同种型。首先，我们表征了与其他生物体相比的蛋白质序列，并确定了保守位点和关键氨基酸。我们还对 AePEPCK(M) 和 AePEPCK(C) 进行了结构建模，确定了高度保守的结构位点，以及位于非常疏水区域的 AePEPCK(M) 中的信号肽。此外，在吸血后和蚊子卵子发生和胚胎发生期间，两种 PEPCK 同种型都显示出不同的转录谱，表明胞质形式的 mRNA 是母体传递的，而线粒体形式是由受精卵合成的。总的来说，A. 埃及控制。