Presence of an adipokinetic peptide in the corpus cardiacum of Dermaptera but not in the neurohaemal aorta, and chemical and functional identification of the peptide
G. Gade, Presence of an adipokinetic peptide in the corpus cardiacum of Dermaptera but not in the neurohaemal aorta, and chemical and functional identification of the peptide, PHYSL ENTOM, 24(4), 1999, pp. 327-332
Corpora cardiaca of the earwigs Labidura riparia and Forficula auricularia
contain a substance that causes hyperlipaemia in migratory locusts and hype
rtrehalosaemia in the American cockroaches. A conspecific bioassay in L. ri
paria revealed that this factor is lipid-mobilizing. Isolation of the neuro
peptide was achieved by single-step RP-HPLC. The primary structure of the e
arwig adipokinetic peptide was elucidated by automated Edman degradation in
combination with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrom
etry. It is a blocked octapeptide, pGlu-Val-Asn-Phe-Ser-Thr-Gly-Trp-NH2, pr
eviously denoted as Grb-AKH and first identified in Gryllus bimaculatus (Ga
de & Rinehart 1987). The synthetic peptide co-chromatographed under various
conditions with the native peptide and, in biological assays, resulted in
lipid-mobilization in L. riparia when injected in low concentration.