title: Vanessa cardui adipokinetic hormone (Vanca-AKH) in butterflies and a moth.
abstract: Small neuropeptides of the adipokinetic hormone/red pigment-concentrating hormone (AKH/RPCH) family regulate energy metabolism in insects. Within lepidopterans, the nonapeptide Manduca sexta AKH (Manse-AKH) represents a widely occurring AKH, whereas the decapeptide Helze-HrTH (at first isolated from Heliothis zea) seems to be restricted to moths. Here we show that Vanca-AKH, a non-amidated undecapeptide which we recently found in the painted lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui, is also present in the retrocerebral complex of several other butterflies (Danaus plexippus, Precis coenia, Aglais urticae) and a moth (Spodoptera frugiperda). This study also demonstrates the power of modern nano-electrospray-quadrupole TOF tandem mass spectrometry in the sequence confirmation of peptides from minute amounts of small neuropeptides.
authors.affiliation: Animal Ecology I, University of Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany.
authors.forename: Gabriele V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Köllisch
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Verhaert
authors.forename: Klaus H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002080:Butterflies / Q000737:chemistry*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D007301:Insect Hormones / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D007814:Larva / Q000737:chemistry; D009036:Moths / Q000737:chemistry*; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D011761:Pyrrolidonecarboxylic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
chemical_list: D007301:Insect Hormones; D009842:Oligopeptides; C044833:adipokinetic hormone; D011761:Pyrrolidonecarboxylic Acid