Orcokinin neuropeptides regulate ecdysis in the hemimetabolous insect Rhodnius prolixus

WULFF JP; SIERRA I; STERKEL M; HOLTOF M; VAN WIELENDAELE P; FRANCINI F; VANDEN BROECK J; ONS S

INSECT BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2017 vol. 81 p. 91 - 102

0965-1748

To grow and develop insects mustundergo ecdysis. During this process, the individual sheds the old cuticle toemerge as the following developmental stage. During ecdysis, differentprogramed behaviors are regulated by neuropeptidergic pathways. In general,components of these pathways are better characterized in crustacean andholometabolous insects than in hemimetabola. In insects, the orkoninin gene producestwo different  neuropeptide precursors byalternative splicing: orcokinin A and orcokinin B. Although orcokinins are wellconserved in insect species, their physiological role remains elusive. Here wedescribe a new splicing variant of the orcokinin gene in the hemimetaboloustriatomine Rhodnius prolixus. We further analyze the expressionpattern and the function of the alternatively spliced RhoprOK transcripts by meansof immunohistochemistry and RNAi-mediated gene silencing. Our results indicatethat orkoninis play an essentialrole in the peptidergic signaling pathway regulatingecdysis in the hemimetabolous insect Rhodniusprolixus.