More than 60 neuropeptides that inhibit juvenile hormone synthesis by the corpora allata have been isolated from the brains of various insect species. Most of them are characterized by a common C-terminal pentapeptide sequence Y/FXFGL/I/V (allatostatin A family, allatostatin superfamily). Besides the allatostatin A family, allatostatic neuropeptides belonging to other two peptide families (W2W9)-allatostatins or allatostatin B family; lepidopteran allatostatin) were reported. So far, only one allatotropin has been identified. Here we discuss latest literature on the multiplicity and multifunctionality of the allatoregulating neuropeptides, their physiological significance as well as their evolutionary conservation in structure and function., Klaus H. Hoffmann, Martina Meyering-Vos, Matthias W. Lorenz, and Lit
Four peptides with allatostatic activity were isolated from brains of the Mediterranean field cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus. Three of them (Grb-AST A3: AGMYSFGL-NH2; Grb-AST A4: SRPFGFGL-NH2; Grb-AST A5: GPDHRFAFGL-NH2) belong to the wide-spread family of Y/FXFGL/I-amide peptides, the fourth (Grb-AST B5: AWDQLRPGW-NH2) is a member of the W2W9 - amide family of neuropeptides. All of these peptides are potent inhibitors of juvenile hormone (JH) biosynthesis by cricket corpora allata in vitro, causing 50% inhibition of JH biosynthesis at 0.4-3 × 10-8 M. The two peptides Grb-AST A5 and Grb-AST B5 have virtually the same potency and efficacy in inhibiting JH biosynthesis in vitro. No synergistic effect of the two peptide families with respect to the inhibition of JH biosynthesis could be observed. Peptides of both families decrease the accumulation of methylfarnesoate, the direct precursor of JH, within CA that have been incubated in farnesol-rich medium. This suggests an involvement of these ASTs in the late steps of JH biosynthesis., Mathias W., Roland Kellner, Klaus H. Hoffmann, and Lit
Allozyme polymorphism was investigated in adult males of the stenotopic peat bog (tyrphobiontic) noctuid moth, Coenophila subrosea Stephens, from three isolated peat bog localities in Austria (Styria) and Czech Republic (South and North Bohemia). Of the eighteen enzyme loci examined, twelve were polymorphic and six monomorphic. Significant deviations of genotype frequencies from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were observed at about one third of polymorphic loci within the populations. The average heterozygosities for the populations from three geographically distinct localities ranged from 0.192 to 0.245, and 61% of the loci were polymorphic. The FST mean value of 0.0675 was higher than that found in most other Lepidoptera. The genetic distances based on allozyme heterozygosity ranged from 0.019 to 0.051, with the population from South Bohemia being the most distant. The genetic distances and FST values do not reflect the geographic distances between the populations. Morphometric analysis revealed a difference between the Austrian Purgschachen Moor and Bohemian populations. These isolated relict peat bogs are habitat islands inhabited by unique "geographical races" of tyrphobiontic taxa., Jan Šula, Karel Spitzer, 4 obrázky, 5 tab., and Lit.