title: Molecular identification of a myosuppressin receptor from the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae.
abstract: The insect myosuppressins (X1DVX2HX3FLRFamide) are neuropeptides that generally block insect muscle activities. We have used the genomic sequence information from the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae Genome Project to clone a G protein-coupled receptor that was closely related to the two previously cloned and characterized myosuppressin receptors from Drosophila [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100 (2003) 9808]. The mosquito receptor cDNA was expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells and was found to be activated by low concentrations of Anopheles myosuppressin (TDVDHVFLRFamide; EC50, 1.6 x 10(-8)M). The receptor was not activated by a library of 35 other insect neuropeptides and monoamines, including neuropeptides that resembled myosuppressin in their C-terminal moiety, such as PDRNFLRFamide (Anopheles FMRFamide-3), other Anopheles FMRFamide peptides, or neuropeptide F-like peptides, showing that the receptor was quite selective for myosuppressin. These results also showed that the myosuppressin receptor needs a much larger portion than the C-terminal FLRFamide sequence for its activation. The insect myosuppressins are often grouped together with the insect FMRFamides under the name FaRPs (FMRFamide-related peptides). However, this is not justified anymore, because the insect myosuppressin receptor/ligand couple is both functionally and evolutionarily fully unrelated to the insect FMRFamide receptor/ligand couple. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the molecular identification of a mosquito neuropeptide receptor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Comparative Zoology, Institute of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schöller
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Belmont
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cazzamali
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hauser
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.forename: Cornelis J P
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Grimmelikhuijzen
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D016466:CHO Cells; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D006224:Cricetinae; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005091:Exons / Q000235:genetics; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018013:Receptors, Neuropeptide / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D018013:Receptors, Neuropeptide