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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
general
Adipokinetic hormone signaling through the gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor modulates egg-laying in Caenorhabditis elegans
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Volume 106, No. 5, Year 2009
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Description
In mammals, hypothalamic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is a neuropeptide that stimulates the release of gonado-tropins 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 (EC50 = 150 nM) and by Drosophila AKH and other nematode AKH-GnRHs that we found in EST databases. Analogous to both insect AKH receptor and vertebrate GnRH receptor signaling, Ce-AKH-GnRH activated its receptor through a Gαq protein with Ca2+ as a second messenger. Gene silencing of Ce-GnRHR, Ce-AKH- GnRH, or both resulted in a delay in the egg-laying process, comparable to a delay in puberty in mammals lacking a normal dose of GnRH peptide or with a mutated GnRH precursor or receptor gene. The present data support the view that the AKH-GnRH signaling system probably arose very early in metazoan evolution and that its role in reproduction might have been developed before the divergence of protostomians and deuterostomians. © 2009 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA.
Available Materials
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2629444/bin/supp_106_5_1642__index.html
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2629444/bin/0809881106_0809881106SI.pdf
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2629444/bin/0809881106_SD1.txt
Authors & Co-Authors
Lindemans, Marleen
Belgium, Leuven
Ku Leuven
Liu, Feng
Belgium, Hasselt
Universiteit Hasselt
Janssen, Tom
Belgium, Leuven
Ku Leuven
Husson, Steven J.
Belgium, Leuven
Ku Leuven
Mertens, Inge
Belgium, Leuven
Ku Leuven
Gáde, Gerd
South Africa, Cape Town
University of Cape Town
Schoofs, Liliane
Belgium, Leuven
Ku Leuven
Statistics
Citations: 137
Authors: 7
Affiliations: 3
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1073/pnas.0809881106
ISSN:
00278424
Research Areas
Genetics And Genomics