Introduction

A recent screen of the locust and termite genomes identified a gene that codes for calcitonin (Veenstra, 2014). Among invertebrates a calcitonin gene was first identified in the annelid, Platynereis dumerilii (Conzelmann et al., 2013). The insect calcitonin gene gives rise to two transcript variants, which result in two different mature peptides (calcitonin-A and calcitonin-B). Interestingly, both these peptides have a C-terminal Pro-amide, as well as a disulfide bridge at the N-terminus which is missing in DH31 (another homolog of mammalian calcitonin). A comprehensive analysis of insect genomes revealed that several basal insects have retained genes encoding both DH31 and calcitonin, but the gene encoding calcitonin has been lost in several insects including D. melanogaster. Putative receptors for calcitonin-A and calcitonin-B were also predicted in the same study. However, these receptors have not yet been functionally characterized and the function(s) of this peptide in insects is still unknown.

Location

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Function

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References

• Conzelmann, M., Williams, E. a, Krug, K., Franz-Wachtel, M., Macek, B., Jékely, G., 2013. The neuropeptide complement of the marine annelid Platynereis dumeriliii. BMC Genomics 14, 906. doi:10.1186/1471-2164-14-906
• Veenstra, J. a., 2014. The contribution of the genomes of a termite and a locust to our understanding of insect neuropeptides and neurohormones. Front. Physiol. 5, 1–22. doi:10.3389/fphys.2014.00454