Most lepidopteran neuroparsin genes seem functional, but in some domesticated silkworm strains it has a fatal mutation.

Jan A. Veenstra
General and Comparative Endocrinology. 2020-01-01; 285: 113274
DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2019.113274

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Veenstra JA(1).

Author information:
(1)INCIA UMR 5287 CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Pessac, France. Electronic
address: .

The primary sequence of the Arthropod neurohormone neuroparsin is so variable
that so far no orthologs from moths and butterflies have been characterized, even
though classical neurosecretory stains identify cells that are homologous to
those producing this hormone in other insect species. Here Lepidopteran cDNAs
showing limited sequence similarity to other insect neuroparsins are described.
That these cDNAs do indeed code for authentic neuroparsins was confirmed by in
situ hybridization in the wax moth, Galleria mellonella, which labeled the
neuroparsin neuroendocrine cells. Although in virtually all genome assemblies
from Lepidoptera a neuroparsin gene could be identified, the genome assembly from
the silkworm, Bombyx mori, has a neuroparsin gene containing a 16 nucleotide
deletion that renders this gene nonfunctional. Although only a small number of
all silkworm strains carry this deletion, it suggests that the domestication of
the silkworm has rendered the function of this neurohormone dispensable.

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2019.113274
PMID: 31525375 [Indexed for MEDLINE]

Auteurs Bordeaux Neurocampus