Genomic and peptidomic analyses of the neuropeptides from the emerging pest, Drosophila suzukii

Abstract

Tel: +44 (0)1904 4626282 Highlights  In silico analysis identified 28 peptide precursors  Peptidome analysis of adult brain, corpus cardiacum, thoracico-abdominal ganglion identified peptides from 15 different families.  Myosuppressin was present in all tissue analysed, and was the only peptide identified in the crop nerve bundle AbstractDrosophila suzukii is a highly polyphagous invasive pest which has been recently introduced into Europe and North America, where it is causing severe economic losses through larval infestations of stone and berry fruits. The peptidome of the selected nervous tissues of adult D. suzukii was investigated as a first step in identifying potential targets for the development of novel insecticides.Through in silico analyses of the D. suzukii genome databases 28 neuropeptide families, comprising more than 72 predicted peptides were identified. Using a combination of liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry of tissue extracts, 33 predicted peptides, representing 13 different peptide families were identified by their molecular masses and a total of 17 peptide sequences were confirmed by ion fragmentation.A comparison between the peptides and precursors of D. suzukii and D. melanogaster shows they are highly conserved, with differences only identified in the amino acid sequences of the peptides encoded in the FMRFamide, hugin and ecydysis triggering hormone precursors. All other peptides predicted and identified from D. suzukii appear to be identical to those previously characterized from D. melanogaster.Adipokinetic hormone was only identified in the corpus cardiacum, other peptides present included short neuropeptide F, a pyrokinin and myosuppressin, the latter of which was the only peptide identified from the crop nerve bundle. Peptides present in extracts of the brain and/or thoracicoabdominal ganglion included allatostatins, cardioacceleratory peptide 2b, corazonin, extended FMRFamides, pyrokinins, myoinihibitory peptides, neuropeptide-like precursor 1, SIFamide, short neuropeptide F, kinin, sulfakinins and tachykinin related peptides.

Opposite effects of 5-HT/AKH and octopamine on the crop contractions in adult Drosophila melanogaster: Evidence of a double brain-gut serotonergic circuitry

“…One study that needs further verification, however, is that of Audsley et al [70] where they report in adult D . suzukii that AKH was found only in the corpora cardiaca and was not found in the nerve bundle going to the crop.…”

Peptidomics for the discovery and characterization of neuropeptides and hormones

“…When the required pre-analytical conditions are met and essential resources are available (Figure 2B), robust characterization of the peptide complement in most peptidergic tissues, peptide extracts, and biological fluids generates a wealth of information for further investigation. Numerous model and socio-economically important organisms have benefited from high-throughput queries of their peptidomes [4, 5, 21–29], providing molecular detail to link peptides to environmental factors, nutrition, physiological states and behaviors. Discovery peptidomics usually involves larger samples, often comprised of many individual samples, which ensures detectable levels of low-abundant peptides and a broader prohormone coverage of detected peptides.…”

“…Discovery peptidomics usually involves larger samples, often comprised of many individual samples, which ensures detectable levels of low-abundant peptides and a broader prohormone coverage of detected peptides. Pooling hundreds of individual samples, such as insect brains [4, 28], neural ganglia [23], or defined mammalian brain regions [30–32], is common in these types of untargeted peptidomics studies.…”

“…The immense challenge is due to the complexity of molecular readout; a single gene can produce many products as a result of single nucleotide polymorphisms, alternative gene splicing, post-translational processing of precursor proteins, and the addition of chemical post-translational modifications (PTMs) of cleaved peptides that oftentimes cannot be inferred from genomic data. Even annotating peptide coding genes and in silico neuropeptidome prediction requires specialized expertise and bioinformatics tools [4–6]. …”

DINeR — A Database for Insect Neuropeptide Research

“…As a rapidly growing field in which more than 5800 papers (Google Scholar) have been published, insect neuropeptide endocrinology requires a comprehensive and standardised resource for managing neuropeptide information. Identification of insect neuropeptides has been facilitated by inexpensive next-generation sequencing, for example in the context of the i5k project (Poelchau et al, 2015); and sensitive mass-spectrometric peptidomic surveys (Audsley et al, 2015;Baggerman et al, 2002;Li et al, 2008;Predel et al, 2007) resulting in an explosion in available insect neuropeptide data. However, there is no dedicated online resource for insect neuroendocrinology.…”