The protein samples were resolved by SDS PAGE using the Laernrnli buffer system (Laernrnli, 1970). The protein sample was denatured by boiling at 100°C for 10 min in Laernrnli's buffer (List I). Resolving gel (10%) was prepared in a minigel (Bio-Rad, USA) system alongwith 3% stacking gel and the electrophoresis was carried out at 120 volts for 125 min. The gel was stained with 0.25% Coomassie blue R staining solution for Ih followed by destaining with successive washes of de staining solution. Staining was avoided when. gel was used for irnrnunoblotting. Details of reagents used for SDS-PAGE are given in List 1.

Sub-cellular fractionation of THP-1 macrophages was performed after lysis with hypotonic buffer. THP-1 macrophages after appropriate treatment were allowed to swell for 10 min in hypotonic buffer (1 0 mM NaCl, 1.5 mM MgCh, 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7 .5) followed by homogenization with 50 strokes using a Dounce homogenizer. More than 90% cellular lysis was ensured by visualizing under a light microscope, and immediately after lysis, the mitochondrial membranes were stabilized by addition of 2.5x mitochondrial stabilization buffer (525 mM mannitol, 175 mM sucrose, 12.5 mM Tris-HCl, 2.5 mM EDTA, pH 7.5) to a final concentration of 1x. The homogenate was centrifuged at 1300 x g for 15 min to isolate the nuclear fraction. The post-nuclear fraction was further centrifuged at 17,000 x g for 15 min in an ultracentrifuge (Beckman Optima XL-1 OOK ultracentrifuge) to isolate the mitochondria. The post-mitochondrial supernatant was centrifuged at 100,000 x g for 1 h to obtain the membranous fraction as a pellet and the supernatant obtained was the cytosol. The homogeneity of the obtained fractions was determined by probing for fraction specific proteins by Western blotting

Heterologus expression of various proteins was done in BL21 (A.DE3) strain of E. coli. Bacterial cells were transformed with the desired construct and grown in Super broth (pH 7.2) containing 100 J.lg/ml ampicillin, at 37 °C with continous shaking in a gyratory shaker at 225 rpm. The cultures were induced, at ~oo of 2.0, with I mM IPTG, and harvested two hours later by centrifugation at 4000 g, at 4 °C, for 20 min .. The recombinant proteins were purified from the inclusion bodies using the procedure described by Buchner et al ( 1992). The total cell pellet from a liter of culture was homogenized in 180 ml of inclusion bodies washing buffer containing 8 ml of freshly prepared lysozyme solution (5 mg/ml). The suspension was incubated at room temperature for 1 hr with intermittent shaking. Added 20 ml each of 5M NaCI and 25% Triton X-100 were added to the suspension and incubated at room temperature for 30 min. with vigorous shaking. The suspension was centrifuged at 13,000 g at 4 °C, for 50 min. and the pellet was resuspended, in the washing buffer containing 1% Triton X-1 00, using a polytron homogenizer and centrifuged at 13,000 g for 50 min. The pellet was washed four times with washing buffer without Triton . X-100. The pellet containing inclusion bodies was solubilized in 6 M guanidine hydrochloride by incubating for 2 hours at room temperature. The solubilized protein was centrifuged at 50,000 g, at 4 °C, for 30 min. and the protein concem.ration was adjusted to 10 mg/ml in the supernatant with 6 M guanidine hydrochloride. The denatured protein thus obtained was reduced by adding 65 mM dithioerythritol and incubated at room temperature for 2 h. To renature, the protein was diluted 1 00-fold in the refolding buffer and incubated at 10 °C for 48 h without stirring or shaking. Renatured material, after dialysis in 20 mM MES buffer, pH 5.0 containing 100 mM urea, was loaded on a S-Sepharose column, and the protein bound to the column was eluted with a 0-1 M NaCI gradient in 20 mM MES on an FPLC system (Pharmacia). The fractions containing the desired protein were pooled and concentrated, and the protein was further purified to homogeneity by gel filtration chromatography on a TSK 3000 column (LKB) in PBS, pH 7.4.

Sf9 cells infected with AcNPV, VI, V2, V3, or V4 were harvested 72 h pi, washed twice with 10 mM PBS, air dried on a slide and fixed in chilled methanol for 15 min. Cells were incubated with MA-451 culture supernatant and N-terminal anti-peptide serum ( 1 :500) at 37°C for 1 h, washed with PBS and further incubated at 37oc for 1 h with I :50 dilution of anti-mouse FITC or I :2000 anti-rabbit FITC. Slides were washed extensively, mounted in 90% glycerol in PBS (50 mM, pH 7.4) and examined under Optiphot fluorescent microscope (Nikon, Tokyo, Japan).

lysed directly in 1. 5 ml of solution D ( 4 M guanidium thiocyanate, 25 rnM sodium citrate, pH 7.0, 0.5 % sarcosyl and 0.1 M 2-mercaptoethanol ) . For every 2 ml of the lysate, 0.2 ml of chloroform was added, followed by vigorous mixing for 15 seconds, and incubation on ice for 15 minutes. The lysate was spun at 12, OOOg, at 4 °c for 15 mins. , and the aqueous phase transferred to another tube. RNA was precipitated with an equal volume of isopropanol and incubation at -2o0c for 45 mins. The samples were then spun at 12,000g for 15 mins. at 4°c, and the supernate discarded. The RNA pellet was washed twice with 75 % ethanol. Finally, the pellet was dried briefly under vacuum for 10 -15 mins. and dissolved in 0.5 % SDS. All chemicals and glassware used for handling RNA were treated with diethylpyrocarbonate ( DEPC ) .

Total RNA was isolated from cultured mammalian cells by the method of Chornczynski and Sacchi ( 1987 ), with slight modifications. Briefly, cells from a 3.5 ern petri-dish were

stranded DNA. The reaction was carried out at 37°C for 1 h. The reaction mixture contained 100 ng Bgl II digested VR1020 vector, SAP (0.5 U) and 1 fll lOX SAP buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0, 10 mM MgCh) in 10 f.!l oftotal reaction volume. The reaction was stopped by inactivating the enzyme at 65°C for 15 min. The digested bmZP1 eDNA was ligated with SAP treated VR1 020 at vector : insert ratio of 1:10 in a 10 fll reaction volume for 16 h at l6°C. The reaction mixture contained 10 ng VR1020 vector, 26 ng bmZPl insert, 1 fll lOX ligase quffer (30 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.8, 10 mM MgCh, 10 mM DTT and 1 mM ATP), lfll T4 DNA ligase (20 U) in a total reaction volume of 10 fll. The ligation product was used for transformation of DH5a competent cells as described previously. Transformants were selected on LB plates containing 50 f.!g/ml Kanamycin (Kan). Similarly, the inserts corresponding to dZP3, rG and dZP3-rG fusion were digested with Bgl II restriction enzyme, gel purified and cloned in VR1020 vector, except that the ligation product of dZP3-rG fusion with VR1020 was transformed into JM109 competent cells

The insert corresponding to bmZP1 was released from the pPCR-Script-bmZPl clone by Bgl II restriction and purified on the agarose gel. VR1020 vector was similarly digested and gel purified. To prevent self-ligation, the digested vector was treated with Shrimp Alkaline Phosphatase (SAP), which removes 5'-phosphate from the termini of double

Meancorpuscularhaemoglobinconcentration(MCHC)istheaverageHbconcentrationperunitvolume(100)ofpackedredcells(W/V).Henceitisexpresseding/1whichisthesameaspercent(%).ItiscalculatedbythefollowingformulaHbMCHC=—......x100(g/dl)PCV

MeancellVolume(MCV).Itisexpressedinfentolitres(1fentolitreorflisequivalentto10'151)andcalculatedby thefollowingformula:PCVMCV=.....................x10(fl)RBC8.10.6.2.MCHMeancellhaemoglobin(MCH)=AverageweightofHbinanerythrocyte.Itisexpressedinpicograms(pg)whichisequivalentto10"12g.Itiscalculatedbythefollowingformula:HbMCH=-----------------x10(ppg)RBC

micro-haematocrittubewasfilledto100mmwithanticoagulatedblood.Oneendofthetubewassealedwithsealingwaxandthetubewasthenkeptinaverticalpositioninaglassbeakerstuffedwithcotton.Afteronehour,lengthoftheplasmacolumnwasmeasuredwitha rulergraduatedin0.5mm.

ESRwasdeterminedbythemicromethodbecausethequantityofbloodavailablefromindividualfishwasinsufficienttoadoptanymacromethod.Anon-heparinised

BloodwascollectedfromtheheartbycardiacpunctureusinganRBCpipette.ItwasdilutedwithHayem’sfluidintheratioof1:200.Thecontentswereshakenwell.AdropofthedilutedbloodwasplacedinaNeubauerdoublehaemocytometer(Germany)countingchamberandtheredbloodcellcountpercubicmmwascalculated

Thepackedcellvolumeorhaematocritisthevolumeoccupiedbythepackedredcells,afteravolumeofanticoagulatedvenousbloodisfullycentrifuged.Thevolumeofpackedcellisexpressedasapercentageoftheoriginalvolumeoftheblood.ThePCVisusedtoestimatehaematologicalindices,includingthemeancellhaemoglobinconcentration(MCHC)andmeancorpuscularvolume(MCV).PCVdetermination followedthemethodsofBlaxhallandDaisley(1973).Thehaematocritvaluewasdeterminedbycentrifuging(3000rpm)aknownvolume ofincoagulantbloodkeptinWintrobe’stubes

HaemoglobinwasdeterminedbySahlimethod.HaemoglobinisconvertedtoacidhaematinbytheactionofHC1.Theacidhaematinsolutionisfurtherdilutedwiththeaciduntilitscolormatchesexactlythatofthepermanentstandardofthecomparatorblock.TheHbconcentrationisreaddirectlyfromthecalibrationcurve.

BloodwastakenbyheartpunctureusingMS222astheanaesthetic.Nofishwasusedmorethanonce.

The cells were assayed for Luciferase gene expression using Luciferase Assay kit (Promega, U.S.A.). After transfection, the cells were washed twice with PBS and then lysed by adding reporter lysis buffer provided in the kit. The cell lysate was collected from individual wells in eppendorf tubes, the cells were twice freeze-thawed in liquid N2 and then centrifuged at 13,000 rpm for 10 min at 40C. The supernatant was transferred to a fresh tube. 20¢ of cell extract was mixed with lOOp! of luciferase assay reagent that was kept at room temparature. The activity was determined using a luminometer (Packard lumicount, U.S.A.

Rhod-2 acetoxymethyl ester is a fluorescent long wavelength calcium indicator, where the AM ester forms are cationic, resulting in a potential driven uptake into the mitochondria making them selective detectors of mitochondrial calcium. Log phase cultures were taken and dead cells pelleted at 129 x g for 5 min at RT. The live cells were washed twice with Kreb' s buffer (118mM Sodium chloride, 5.4mM Potassium chloride, 1.2mM Magnesium chloride, 1.2mM Potassium dihydrogen phosphate, 25mM Sodium hydrogen phosphate, llmM glucose, 1.5mM Calcium chloride, pH 7.4) by centrifugation at 1258 x g for 5 min to wash off all traces of medium and FBS. Washed cells were loaded with 1:1 mixture of Rhod -2 AM (1p.g/p.L stock solution prepared in DMSO) and 20%w/v Pluronic F127 for 1h at RT in the dark with shaking. Excess dye was removed by one wash with Kreb' s buffer followed by incubation of cells at RT for a further 30min for complete hydrolysis of the dye trapped in the mitochondria. Fluorescence intensities of the stained cells were measured fluorimetrically at excitation of 530nm and emission of 576nm or alternatively acquired by flow cytometer.

The DNA fragments eluted from the agarose gel or purified PCR products were cloned into pGEM-T easy vector which allows efficient sequencing using the common sequencing primers T7 and SP6. SOng of the vector was used with 1J..lL of T4 DNA ligase in a 10J..lL reaction volume. The reaction was allowed to proceed at 4 °C for 16h followed by transformation into DHS-a strain of E coli following standard protocols. The transformed cells were plated onto LB-agar plates containing appropriate ampicillin (100J..lg/mL) and blue-white selection reagent (40J..lL/plate). The plate was incubated at 37°C for 12 hrs, following which white colonies were picked up for screening for the presence of the gene of interest.

The tannases obtained (at high titres) from selected cultures were evaluated for the following important biochemical properties. 1. pH tolerance and stability 2. Temperature tolerance and stability 3. Organic solvent stability •pH tolerance: pH-tolerance of the selected tannases was examined in the range of 3.0–9.0. Buffers (0.05 M) of different pH (citrate phosphate for pH