The adipokinetic hormones and their cognate receptor from the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria : solution structure of endogenous peptides and models of their binding to the receptor

• Published in: PeerJ (San Francisco, CA) Vol. 7; p. e7514
• Main Authors: Jackson, Graham E, Pavadai, Elumalai, Gäde, Gerd, Andersen, Niels H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States PeerJ. Ltd 30.08.2019; PeerJ, Inc; PeerJ Inc
• Subjects: Adipokinetic hormones; Aedae-AKH; Algorithms; Amino acid sequence; Amino acids; Cloning; Cluster analysis; Computational Biology; Control; Crustaceans; Entomology; Flight activity; G protein-coupled receptors; G proteins; Hormones; Insect pests; Insecticides; Insects; Ligands; Locmi-AKH-I; Locusta migratoria; Locusts (Insects); Metabolism; Micelles; Molecular Biology; Neuropeptides; NMR; Novels; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Opioid receptors (type kappa); Peptides; Pharmaceutical industry; Protein binding; Schgr-AKH-II; Schistocerca gregaria; Spectrum analysis; Swarms; Therapeutic targets; Tropical diseases; Zoology; United States > US; China; Adipokinetic hormones; Aedae-AKH; Homology modeling; Schistocerca gregaria; Locmi-AKH-I; Locusta migratoria; Agonist docking; Schgr-AKH-II
• ISSN: 2167-8359; 2167-8359
• DOI: 10.7717/peerj.7514

Neuropeptides exert their activity through binding to G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). GPCRs are well-known drug targets in the pharmaceutical industry and are currently discussed as targets to control pest insects. Here, we investigate the neuropeptide adipokinetic hormone (AKH) system of the desert locust . The desert locust is known for its high reproduction, and for forming devastating swarms consisting of billions of individual insects. It is also known that produces three different AKHs as ligands but has only one AKH receptor (AKHR). The AKH system is known to be essential for metabolic regulation, which is necessary for reproduction and flight activity. Nuclear magnetic resonance techniques (NMR) in a dodecylphosphocholin (DPC) micelle solution were used to determine the structure of the three AKHs. The primary sequence of the AKHR was used to construct a 3D molecular model. Next, the three AKHs were individually docked to the receptor, and dynamic simulation of the whole ligand-receptor complex in a model membrane was performed. Although the three endogenous AKHs of have quite different amino acids sequences and chain length (two octa- and one decapeptide), NMR experiments assigned a turn structure in DPC micelle solution for all. The GPCR-ModSim program identified human kappa opioid receptor to be the best template after which the AKHR was modeled. All three AKHs were found to have the same binding site on this receptor, interact with similar residues of the receptor and have comparable binding constants. Molecular switches were also identified; the movement of the receptor could be visually shown when ligands (AKHs) were docked and the receptor was activated. The study proposes a model of binding of the three endogenous ligands to the one existing AKHR in the desert locust and paves the way to use such a model for the design of peptide analogs and finally, peptide mimetics, in the search for novel species-specific insecticides based on receptor-ligand interaction.