Time at Missouri

Zhiyong Huang, Postdoc

Time at Missouri, Columbia was brief (1.5 years). I worked with Prof. Charles Knowles (now retired).

Main task there: Pharmacological characterization of neurotransmitter receptors in bees and mites

I characterized the pharmacological profile of two acetylcholine receptors, nicotinic and muscarinic receptors, in honey bee brains. I also studied muscarinic receptors in an economically important pest, bulb mite Rhizoglyphus echinopus. The latter represented the first neurotransmitter receptor ever characterized in an acarine. Many previous attempts failed partly because of the high ratio of body to nervous tissue in this mite and the difficulty in separating the two. Characterizing receptors or studying detailed biochemical pathways of a pest species is the first crucial step in rationally designing pesticides so they do not harm other, non-target species. I designed my own SAS (statistical analysis system) programs in the mainframe for the estimation of pharmacological parameters, using non-linear regression techniques. Non-linear regression is a better option than traditional transformed, linear estimates, because it involves no transformation and therefore provides unbiased estimates with known confidence intervals.

Publications from Mizzou:

6. Huang, Z.-Y. & C.O. Knowles. 1990. Properties of a quinuclidinyl benzilate binding component in the bulb mite. Comparative Biochemistry & Physiology C 95: 71-77

7. Huang, Z.-Y. & C.O. Knowles. 1991. Nicotinic and muscarinic cholinergic receptors in honey bee (Apis mellifera) brain. Comparative Biochemistry & Physiology C 97: 275-281

[home] [cyberbee.msu.edu] [Guelph, Mizzou, UIUC, 2000, 2001, 2002]