Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Dr Rachel Down, Dr Neil AudsleyORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
© 2018 Elsevier Inc.There is much interest in targeting neuropeptide signaling for the development of new and environmentally friendly insect control chemicals. In this study we have focused attention on the peptidergic control of the adult crop of Delia radicum (cabbage root fly), an important pest of brassicas in European agriculture. The dipteran crop is a muscular organ formed from the foregut of the digestive tract and plays a vital role in the processing of food in adult flies. We have shown using direct tissue profiling by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry that the decapeptide myosuppressin (TDVDHVFLRFamide)is present in the crop nerve bundle and that application of this peptide to the crop potently inhibits the spontaneous contractions of the muscular lobes with an IC50 of 4.4 × 10−8 M. The delivery of myosuppressin either by oral administration or by injection had no significant detrimental effect on the adult fly. This failure to elicit a response is possibly due to the susceptibility of the peptide to degradative peptidases that cleave the parent peptide to inactive fragments. Indeed, we show that the crop of D. radicum is a source of neuropeptide-degrading endo- and amino-peptidases. In contrast, feeding benzethonium chloride, a non-peptide agonist of myosuppressin, reduced feeding rate and increased the rate of mortality of adult D. radicum. Current results are indicative of a key role for myosuppressin in the regulation of crop physiology and the results achieved during this project provide the basis for subsequent studies aimed at developing insecticidal molecules targeting the peptidergic control of feeding and food digestion in this pest species.
Author(s): Bell P, Down RE, Matthews HJ, Isaac RE, Audsley N
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: General and Comparative Endocrinology
Year: 2019
Volume: 278
Pages: 50-57
Print publication date: 01/07/2019
Online publication date: 02/08/2018
Acceptance date: 01/08/2018
Date deposited: 11/11/2019
ISSN (print): 0016-6480
ISSN (electronic): 1095-6840
Publisher: Academic Press Inc.
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygcen.2018.08.001
DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2018.08.001
PubMed id: 30077792
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
