Publication
Title
Orcokinin neuropeptides regulate ecdysis in the hemimetabolous insect Rhodnius prolixus
Author
Abstract
To grow and develop insects must undergo ecdysis. During this process, the individual sheds the old cuticle to emerge as the following developmental stage. During ecdysis, different programed behaviors are regulated by neuropeptidergic pathways. In general, components of these pathways are better characterized in crustacean and holometabolous insects than in hemimetabola. In insects, the orkoninin gene produces two different neuropeptide precursors by alternative splicing: orcokinin A and orcokinin B. Although orcokinins are well conserved in insect species, their physiological role remains elusive. Here we describe a new splicing variant of the orcokinin gene in the hemimetabolous triatomine Rhodnius prolixus. We further analyze the expression pattern and the function of the alternatively spliced RhoprOK transcripts by means of immunohistochemistry and RNAi-mediated gene silencing. Our results indicate that orkoninis play an essential role in the peptidergic signaling pathway regulating ecdysis in the hemimetabolous insect Rhodnius prolixus. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Insect biochemistry and molecular biology. - Bristol
Publication
Bristol : 2017
ISSN
0965-1748
DOI
10.1016/J.IBMB.2017.01.003
Volume/pages
81 (2017) , p. 91-102
ISI
000394485700010
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Research group
Publication type
Subject
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 09.07.2019
Last edited 27.11.2024
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