Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 30, 2025

Functional Characterization of Carboxylesterases in Insecticide Resistant House Flies, Musca Domestica
Published on: August 23, 2018
Heterologous expression of insect P450 enzymes that metabolize xenobiotics
Ralf Nauen1, Christoph T Zimmer2, John Vontas3
1Bayer AG, Crop Science Division, R&D, Alfred Nobel-Strasse 50, 40789 Monheim, Germany.
Abstract:
Insect cytochrome P450-monooxygenases (P450s) are an enzyme superfamily involved in the oxidative transformation of endogenous and exogenous substrates, including insecticides. They were also shown to determine insecticide selectivity in beneficial arthropods such as bee pollinators, and to detoxify plant secondary metabolites. The recent explosion in numbers of P450s due to increased invertebrate genomes sequenced, allowed researchers to study their functional relevance for xenobiotic metabolism by recombinant expression using different expression systems. Troubleshooting strategies, including different systems and protein modifications typically adapted from mammalian P450s, have been applied to improve the functional expression, with partial success. The aim of this mini review is to critically summarize different strategies recently developed and used to produce recombinant insect P450s for xenobiotic metabolism studies.
Related Concept Videos
Drug Metabolism: Phase I Reactions
Protein Import into the Peroxisomes
Peroxisomal Protein Import:
Peroxisomes lack the genetic machinery required to code for their own proteins. Hence, most peroxisomal membrane, lumenal and transmembrane proteins are synthesized in the cytoplasm or ER and transported to the peroxisome...
Drug Biotransformation: Overview
Exon Recombination
Exon shuffling follows “splice frame rules.” Each exon...
Drug Metabolism: Phase II Reactions

