DINeR

A Database for Insect Neuropeptide Research

Search the database for information about the various species and neuropeptides of interest

Insect Neuropeptides - Allatostatin C

Introduction

AST-C peptides represents the third family of insect allatostatins, whose first member was discovered from Manduca sexta in 1991 (Kramer et al., 1991). This peptide was able to inhibit juvenile hormone synthesis by corpora allata of another lepidopteran Heliothis virescens, but not those from Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera), Melanoplus sanguinipes (Orthoptera), or Periplaneta americana (Blattodea). AST-C peptides contain two cysteine residues that from a disulfide bridge and have a characteristic C-terminal pentapeptide sequence PISCF (Bendena and Tobe, 2012). Hence these peptides are also referred to as PISCF-related allatostatins (PISCF/AST). Structure-activity studies revealed that the loss of the disulfide bridge (by replacing either cysteine residue with alanine) results in a loss of activity (Matthews et al., 2006). The first AST-C-encoding gene was cloned from Pseudaletia unipuncta (Jansons et al., 1996). Insect AST-C precursors contain a single copy of the mature peptide that is located at the end of the precursor (Veenstra, 2009). Insect AST-C mediates its effects by binding to GPCRs related to the vertebrate somatostatin receptors. Two AST-C receptors (Drostar1 and -2) were the first to be cloned and characterized in Drosophila melanogaster (Kreienkamp et al., 2002). The receptor gene appears to have duplicated in Diptera as insects other than Drosophila and mosquitoes have only one AST-C receptor (Mayoral et al., 2010).

Location

AST-C is expressed in the CNS and gut of D. melanogaster (Park et al., 2008; Williamson et al., 2001; Žitňan et al., 1993). Thus, these peptides are brain-gut peptide just like their vertebrate homolog, somatostatin. The distribution of AST-C has also been mapped in the larval CNS of the tomato moth, Lacanobia oleracea (Audsley et al., 2000).

Function

AST-C peptides are allatostatic in dipterans and lepidopetrans (Li et al., 2006; Wang et al., 2012). However, their activity is usually dependent on the stage and age of insects (Bendena and Tobe, 2012; Verlinden et al., 2015). AST-C also act as myoinhibitors in D. melanogaster and L. oleracea (Matthews et al., 2007; Price et al., 2002). AST-C from M. sexta reduces feeding and growth in the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum (Down et al., 2010).

SeqLogo and Cladogram

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Suggested Reviews

  • Bendena, W.G., Tobe, S.S., 2012. Families of allatoregulator sequences : a 2011 perspective. Can. J. Zool. 90, 521–544. doi:10.1139/Z2012-012
    View Review
  • Nässel, D.R., Winther, Å.M.E., 2010. Drosophila neuropeptides in regulation of physiology and behavior. Prog. Neurobiol. 92, 42–104. doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2010.04.010
    View Review
  • Stay, B., Tobe, S.S., 2007. The role of allatostatins in juvenile hormone synthesis in insects and crustaceans. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 52, 277–299. doi:10.1146/annurev.ento.51.110104.151050
    View Review
  • Verlinden, H., Gijbels, M., Lismont, E., Lenaerts, C., Vanden Broeck, J., Marchal, E., 2015. The pleiotropic allatoregulatory neuropeptides and their receptors: A mini-review. J. Insect Physiol. 80, 2–14. doi:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2015.04.004
    View Review

References

  • Audsley, N., Duve, H., Thorpe, A., Weaver, R.J., 2000. Morphological and physiological comparisons of two types of allatostatin in the brain and retrocerebral complex of the tomato moth, Lacanobia oleracea (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). J. Comp. Neurol. 424, 37–46. doi:10.1002/1096-9861(20000814)424:1<37::AID-CNE3>3.0.CO;2-9
  • Bendena, W.G., Tobe, S.S., 2012. Families of allatoregulator sequences : a 2011 perspective. Can. J. Zool. 90, 521–544. doi:10.1139/Z2012-012
  • Down, R.E., Matthews, H.J., Audsley, N., 2010. Effects of Manduca sexta allatostatin and an analog on the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and degradation by enzymes from the aphid gut. Peptides 31, 489–497. doi:10.1016/j.peptides.2009.06.017 Jansons, I.S., Cusson, M., Mcneil, J.N., Tobe, S.S., Bendena, W.G., 1996. Molecular characterization of a cDNA from Pseudaletia unipuncta encoding the Manduca sextaallatostatin peptide (Mas-AST). Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 26, 767–773. doi:10.1016/S0965-1748(96)00023-9 Kramer, S.J., Toschi, A., Miller, C.A., Kataoka, H., Quistad, G.B., Li, J.P., Carney, R.L., Schooley, D.A., 1991. Identification of an allatostatin from the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 88, 9458–9462. doi:10.1073/pnas.88.21.9458 Kreienkamp, H.-J., Larusson, H.J., Witte, I., Roeder, T., Birgul, N., Honck, H.-H., Harder, S., Ellinghausen, G., Buck, F., Richter, D., 2002. Functional Annotation of Two Orphan G-protein-coupled Receptors, Drostar1 and -2, from Drosophila melanogaster and Their Ligands by Reverse Pharmacology. J. Biol. Chem. 277, 39937–39943. doi:10.1074/jbc.M206931200 Li, Y., Hernandez-Martinez, S., Fernandez, F., Mayoral, J.G., Topalis, P., Priestap, H., Perez, M., Navare, A., Noriega, F.G., 2006. Biochemical, Molecular, and Functional Characterization of PISCF-Allatostatin, a Regulator of Juvenile Hormone Biosynthesis in the Mosquito Aedes aegypti. J. Biol. Chem. 281, 34048–34055. doi:10.1074/jbc.M606341200 Matthews, H.J., Audsley, N., Weaver, R.J., 2007. Interactions between allatostatins and allatotropin on spontaneous contractions of the foregut of larval Lacanobia oleracea. J. Insect Physiol. 53, 75–83. doi:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2006.10.007 Matthews, H.J., Audsley, N., Weaver, R.J., 2006. Alanine substitution and deletion analogues of Manduca sextaallatostatin: Structure–activity relationship on the spontaneous contractions of the foregut of larval Lacanobia oleracea. J. Insect Physiol. 52, 128–135. doi:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2005.07.006 Mayoral, J.G., Nouzova, M., Brockhoff, A., Goodwin, M., Hernandez-Martinez, S., Richter, D., Meyerhof, W., Noriega, F.G., 2010. Allatostatin-C receptors in mosquitoes. Peptides 31, 442–450. doi:10.1016/j.peptides.2009.04.013 Park, D., Veenstra, J. a., Park, J.H., Taghert, P.H., 2008. Mapping peptidergic cells in Drosophila: Where DIMM fits in. PLoS One 3. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001896 Price, M.D., Merte, J., Nichols, R., Koladich, P.M., Tobe, S.S., Bendena, W.G., 2002. Drosophila melanogaster flatline encodes a myotropin orthologue to Manduca sextaallatostatin. Peptides 23, 787–794. doi:10.1016/S0196-9781(01)00649-0 Veenstra, J. a., 2009. Allatostatin C and its paralog allatostatin double C: The arthropod somatostatins. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 39, 161–170. doi:10.1016/j.ibmb.2008.10.014 Verlinden, H., Gijbels, M., Lismont, E., Lenaerts, C., Vanden Broeck, J., Marchal, E., 2015. The pleiotropic allatoregulatory neuropeptides and their receptors: A mini-review. J. Insect Physiol. 80, 2–14. doi:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2015.04.004 Wang, C., Zhang, J., Tobe, S.S., Bendena, W.G., 2012. Defining the contribution of select neuropeptides and their receptors in regulating sesquiterpenoid biosynthesis by Drosophila melanogaster ring gland/corpus allatum through RNAi analysis. Gen. Comp. Endocrinol. 176, 347–353. doi:10.1016/j.ygcen.2011.12.039 Williamson, M., Lenz, C., Winther, Å.M.E., Nässel, D.R., Grimmelikhuijzen, C.J.P., 2001. Molecular Cloning, Genomic Organization, and Expression of a C-Type (Manduca sexta-Type) Allatostatin Preprohormone from Drosophila melanogaster. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 282, 124–130. doi:10.1006/bbrc.2001.4565 Žitňan, D., Sehnal, F., Bryant, P.J., 1993. Neurons Producing Specific Neuropeptides in the Central Nervous System of Normal and Pupariation-Delayed Drosophila. Dev. Biol. 156, 117–135. doi:10.1006/dbio.1993.1063
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