Computational analysis of an acidic lipase of Tribolium castaneum

Tribolium castaneum is a stored grain pest and generates a battery of enzymes for the utilization of stored grain as food. genome of tribolium castaneum reveals that there are 54 genes for the expression of lipase enzyme. total soluble proteins were isolated from t. castaneum and lipase activity was fractionated using buffers with different ph 4.5,6.5 and 7.0 in cm sepharose column. at least six different lipases were present in different fractions. lipolytic activity was visualized on agar-substrate plates,using rhodamine reagent under uv light. protein sequence for one of the acidic lipase similar to human lysosomal lipase was deduced from ncbi under the accession number xp-972957.2. e. for the identification of novel features of the enzyme. the identified features include catalytic triad,nucleophilic elbow,a flap covering active site of leu 226-ile257,beta 9 loop,beta 5 loop and oxyanion hole. four nglycosylation sites were identified at positions asn59,asn230,asn242 and asn296. copyright © 2014 zoological society of pakistan.