ISOLATION AND PRIMARY STRUCTURE OF A NOVEL ADIPOKINETIC PEPTIDE FROM THE PYRGOMORPHID GRASSHOPPER, PHYMATEUS-LEPROSUS

Using a heterologous bioassay, monitoring lipid increase in the haemol ymph of migratory locusts, two peptides have been purified from methan olic extracts of corpora cardiaca of the pyrgomorphid grasshopper, Phy mateus leprosus. The structures of both peptides were elucidated by a combination of Edman degradation, after deblocking the N-terminal pyro glutamic acid residue, and mass spectrometric techniques. One peptide is an octapeptide (pGlu-Leu-Asn-Phe-Ser-Thr-Gly-Trp-NH2) which also oc curs in desert locusts; the second peptide is a novel decapeptide memb er of the AKH-family (pGlu-Leu-Thr-Phe-Thr-Pro-Asn-Trp-Gly-Ser-NH2).