Elevenin signaling modulates body color through the tyrosine-mediated cuticle melanism pathway

• Published in: The FASEB journal Vol. 33; no. 9; p. 9731
• Main Authors: Wang, Si-Liang, Wang, Wei-Wei, Ma, Qiang, Shen, Zhang-Fei, Zhang, Meng-Qiu, Zhou, Nai-Ming, Zhang, Chuan-Xi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.09.2019
• Subjects: Animals; Depsipeptides - pharmacology; Gene Expression Regulation - drug effects; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; HEK293 Cells; Hemiptera - genetics; Hemiptera - metabolism; Humans; Insect Proteins - genetics; Insect Proteins - metabolism; Neuropeptides - genetics; Neuropeptides - metabolism; Pigmentation - genetics; Pigmentation - physiology; Sf9 Cells; Signal Transduction; salivary gland; GPCR; intracellular signaling pathway
• ISSN: 1530-6860
• DOI: 10.1096/fj.201802786RR

Elevenin is a newly discovered novel neuropeptide. Knockdown of either elevenin or orphan receptor NlA42 transcript expression by RNA interference caused severe cuticle melanization in the brown planthopper (BPH). Injection of a synthetic elevenin peptide not only rescued the body color phenotype in dselevenin-pretreated individuals but also suppressed melanization of black insects grown in natural conditions. Real-time quantitative PCR results revealed that elevenin expression levels were highest in the brain and salivary gland. Immunohistochemistry analysis confirmed that a precursor peptide of elevenin was generated in the salivary gland, suggesting that the salivary gland might be an important neurosecretory tissue in addition to the brain in BPH. Furthermore, double-strand RNA-mediated silencing of elevenin and NlA42 resulted in down-regulation of arylalkylamine- -acetyltransferase and up-regulation of tyrosine hydroxylase, whereas elevenin peptide injection resulted in up-regulation of -β-alanyldopamine synthase and aspartate 1-decarboxylase, indicating a complex regulation network for cuticle pigmentation. In addition, functional characterization demonstrated that NlA42 is a cognate receptor for elevenin, and couples to Gq and Gs proteins, triggering both PLC/Ca /PKC and AC/cAMP/PKA signaling pathways in response to elevenin treatment. These findings suggest that the elevenin signaling functions control BPH body color through the tyrosine-mediated cuticle melanism pathway.-Wang, S.-L., Wang, W.-W., Ma, Q., Shen, Z.-F., Zhang, M.-Q., Zhou, N.-M., Zhang, C.-X. Elevenin signaling modulates body color through the tyrosine-mediated cuticle melanism pathway.