Allatostatins C, double C and triple C, the result of a local gene triplication in an ancestral Arthropod

Veenstra JA(1).

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

Allatostatin C is the arthropod homolog of vertebrate somatostatin. The gene went
through a local gene triplification leading to the existence of three genes
coding such peptides, allatostatins C, CC and CCC. All three genes are still
present in several chelicerates, such as the horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus,
several spiders and the scorpion Mesobuthus martensii, the myriapod Strigamia
maritima, as well as at least two insect species, Locusta migratoria and Athalia
rosae, a sawfly. All three peptides have well conserved primary structures and
peptides can easily be classified as either allatostatin C, CC or CCC. In most
insect species only two of the genes have been preserved. In many species, these
are CC and CCC, but in Diptera, Lepidoptera and Coleoptera it are allatostatins C
and CC that are still present. In some arthropod species two or even all three
genes can still be found closely associated in the genome and are present on the
same scaffold showing that a local amplification was at the origin of these
genes.

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