Biologically active insect peptides

Schoofs L., Holman G. M., Hayes T. K., Tips A., Vandesande F. and Loof A. D. (1990b) Isolation, identification and synthesis of locustamyotropin (Lom-MT), a novel biologically active insect neuropeptide. Peptides 11, A21—A33. 

M. S. Palma, Insect Venom Peptides. In Handbook of Biologically Active Peptides] J. Kastin, Ed. Elsevier Amsterdam, 2006 p 389. 

Using the C-terminal hexapeptide of substance P as a model compound, each one of cycloscan diversity parameters have been shown to affect the conformation and hence the biological activity of the peptide.1417,470,4711 This approach has been successfully applied to various peptides such as somatostatin,14191 the insect neuropeptide pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide (PBAN),1420,4311 BPTI,14351 and on the nuclear localization signal (NLS) of the HIV-1 matrix protein (MA),14291 and HIV-1 Tat/Rev.14301... 

Diuretic peptides promote diuresis in insects in different ways. The chapter reviews the isolation and chemical identification of diuretic peptides from three insects Locusta migratoria, Manduca sexta, and Acheta domesticus. The biological activities of the characterized peptides are discussed. 

The two diuretic hormones with unambiguous biological activity are both strongly homologous to known peptide hormone families represented in vertebrates, fish, and birds, yet they are of different peptide families. Members of both peptide families have antidiuretic effects in mammals The complexity of diuresis in insects suggests that a diversity of structures remain to be discovered. 

Vertebrate-like neuropeptides are present in insects as demonstrated immunologically, and probably vice versa, but it is unclear what the function is for these peptides in their heterologous animal system. The structural similarities between these molecules suggest that common, biologically-active ancestral molecules may have existed and evolved to perform different functions depending on the physiological diversity and needs of the animals involved. 

Recent discoveries of biologically active peptides in venoms, such as mastoparan from the Japanese hornet or vespulakinin from wasps, suggest that many more such interesting compounds should be found in various insects in the not too distant future. 

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