Author:

Keywords:

protease inhibitor, peptide family, real-time pcr, gene expression, schistocerca gregaria, phase transition, solitary, gregarious, schistocerca-gregaria, proteinase-inhibitors, cdna cloning, dependent expression, phase polymorphism, insect, migratoria, family, arthropods, transition, Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Biophysics, real-time PCR, Schistocerca gregaria, SCHISTOCERCA-GREGARIA, PROTEINASE-INHIBITORS, CDNA CLONING, DEPENDENT EXPRESSION, PHASE POLYMORPHISM, INSECT, MIGRATORIA, FAMILY, ARTHROPODS, TRANSITION, Adaptation, Physiological, Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Behavior, Animal, Female, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Expression Regulation, Grasshoppers, Male, Molecular Sequence Data, Organ Specificity, Phenotype, Proteins, Sequence Homology, Amino Acid, Social Isolation, Tissue Distribution, Transcription, Genetic, 0304 Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry, 0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology, 1101 Medical Biochemistry and Metabolomics, 3101 Biochemistry and cell biology, 3404 Medicinal and biomolecular chemistry

Abstract:

Locusts have fascinated researchers for several decades, because they have the remarkable ability to undergo phase transition from the harmless solitary to the swarm-forming gregarious phase. However, the physiological and endocrine mechanisms, underlying phase polymorphism, are only partially unravelled. Nevertheless, besides the 'classical' hormones, pacifastin-related peptides have been suggested to play a role in phase transition. Here, we present the first quantitative and comparative analysis of locust transcripts, in particular pacifastin-related precursor (SGPP-1-3) mRNAs, between isolated-reared (solitary) and crowd-reared (gregarious) desert locusts, revealing a phase-dependent transcriptional regulation of the corresponding genes. While the SGPP-1 and SGPP-3 transcripts were most abundant in fat body from crowd-reared males, corresponding to significantly higher levels than in isolated-reared males, the SGPP-2 transcript was detected most abundantly in brain from crowd-reared male locusts. Furthermore, SGPP-2 transcript levels in brain, testes, fat body, and accessory glands from crowd-reared males significantly exceeded the levels in solitary locusts. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.