Transcript profiling of pacifastin-like peptide precursors in crowd- and isolated-reared desert locusts.
Locusts have fascinated researchers for several decades, because they have the remarkable ability to undergo phase transition from the harmless solitary to the swarm-forming gregarious phase. However, the physiological and endocrine mechanisms, underlying phase polymorphism, are only partially unravelled. Nevertheless, besides the 'classical' hormones, pacifastin-related peptides have been suggested to play a role in phase transition. Here, we present the first quantitative and comparative analysis of locust transcripts, in particular pacifastin-related precursor (SGPP-1-3) mRNAs, between isolated-reared (solitary) and crowd-reared (gregarious) desert locusts, revealing a phase-dependent transcriptional regulation of the corresponding genes. While the SGPP-1 and SGPP-3 transcripts were most abundant in fat body from crowd-reared males, corresponding to significantly higher levels than in isolated-reared males, the SGPP-2 transcript was detected most abundantly in brain from crowd-reared male locusts. Furthermore, SGPP-2 transcript levels in brain, testes, fat body, and accessory glands from crowd-reared males significantly exceeded the levels in solitary locusts.
Simonet
Gert
G
Laboratory of Developmental Physiology, Genomics and Proteomics, K.U. Leuven, Naamsestraat 59, Leuven B-3000, Belgium. Gert.simonet@bio.kuleuven.ac.be
Claeys
Ilse
I
Breugelmans
Bert
B
Van Soest
Sofie
S
De Loof
Arnold
A
Vanden Broeck
Jozef
J
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D006110:Grasshoppers / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009928:Organ Specificity; D010641:Phenotype; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012934:Social Isolation; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics
D011506:Proteins; C106709:pacifastin