Adipokinetic hormone signaling through the gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor modulates egg-laying in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: In mammals, hypothalamic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is a neuropeptide that stimulates the release of gonadotropins from the anterior pituitary. The existence of a putative functional equivalent of this reproduction axis in protostomian invertebrates has been a matter of debate. In this study, the ligand for the GnRH receptor in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (Ce-GnRHR) was found using a bioinformatics approach. The peptide and its precursor are reminiscent of both insect adipokinetic hormones and GnRH-preprohormone precursors from tunicates and higher vertebrates. We cloned the AKH-GnRH-like preprohormone and the Ce-GnRHR and expressed the GPCR in HEK293T cells. The GnRHR was activated by the C. elegans AKH-GnRH-like peptide (EC(50) = 150 nM) and by Drosophila AKH and other

SUBMITTER: Lindemans M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2629444 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature