Orcokinin neuropeptides regulate ecdysis in the hemimetabolous insect Rhodnius prolixus

JUAN PEDRO WULFF; SIERRA IVANA; STERKEL MARCOS; HOLTOF MICHIEL; PIETER VANWIELENDAELE; FRANCINI FLAVIO; JOZEF VANDENBROECK; ONS SHEILA

INSECT BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2017

0965-1748

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 behaviorsare regulated by neuropeptidergic pathways. In general, components of these pathways are better characterized in crustacean and holometabolous insects than in hemimetabola. In insects, the orkoniningene 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. Herewe 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 RhoprOKtranscripts 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 thehemimetabolous insect Rhodnius prolixus.