Fig. 4

Representative zymographic profile and SDS-PAGE of total protein extracts of C. quinquefasciatus midgut extract. This figure shows two different electrophoretic systems used for characterize and identify, respectively, the trypsin-like serine peptidases: the zymography where proteins are resolved under non-reducing conditions and therefore their activity can be detected, and the denaturating SDS-PAGE ran under reducing conditions. SDS-PAGE slices were used for peptidase identification by mass spectrometry. The numbers on the left of each electrophoresis indicate the molecular mass of standards utilized in the gel (kDa). This figure also shows a representative image of midgut recorded by optical differential interference contrast microscopy (DIC)