HORMONAL REGULATION OF ECDYSIS INNATE BEHAVIOR IN THE HEMIMETABOLOUS INSECT RHODNIUS PROLIXUS

ONS SHEILA; JUAN PEDRO WULFF

Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Congreso; I Reunión de Biología del Comportamiento del Cono Sur; 2017

In insects, ecdysis sequence is a series of stereotyped innate behaviors performed at the end of each molting period, in order to shed the old cuticle and to emerge as the following stage in the vital cycle. The hormonal regulation of ecdysis has been studied in holometabolous insects; it includes the participation of ecdysteroids and peptidic hormones. However, in spite of the fundamental differences in ecdysis between holometabolous and hemimetabolous, the hormonal regulation of this process has not been characterized in the latter. We studied the neuropeptidergic network controlling ecdysis in the model insect Rhonius prolixus, using RNAi-mediated gene silencing and related techniques. Our results showed conservation of some components of this network throughout the class Insecta. Remarkably, we found the central participation of Orcokinins, a poorly studied neuropeptide family whose role in post-embryonic development is reported for the first time.