Female bed bugs have also evolved physiological by the presence of phagocytic cells in the mesospermalege that ingest sperm after mating.
When there is an NADPH oxidase defect, the phagocyte is unable to make reactive oxygen species or radicals required for bacterial killing.
Phosphorylation of the cytosolic components of NADPH oxidase, a large membrane-bound, multi-protein enzyme present in phagocytic cells, plays an important role in the regulation of protein-protein interactions in the enzyme.
In phagocytes, superoxide is produced in large quantities by the enzyme NADPH oxidase for use in oxygen-dependent killing mechanisms of invading pathogens.