Abstract
Neuropeptides are evolutionarily ancient mediators of neuronal signalling that regulate a wide range of physiological processes and behaviours in animals. Neuropeptide signalling has been investigated extensively in vertebrates and protostomian invertebrates, which include the ecdysozoans Drosophila melanogaster (Phylum Arthropoda) and Caenorhabditis elegans (Phylum Nematoda). However, until recently, an understanding of evolutionary relationships between neuropeptide signalling systems in vertebrates and protostomes has been impaired by a lack of genome/transcriptome sequence data from non-ecdysozoan invertebrates. The echinoderms—a deuterostomian phylum that includes sea urchins, sea cucumbers and starfish—have been particularly important in providing new insights into neuropeptide evolution. Sequencing of the genome of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (Class Echinoidea) enabled discovery of (i) the first invertebrate thyrotropin-releasing hormone-type precursor, (ii) the first deuterostomian pedal peptide/orcokinin-type precursors and (iii) NG peptides—the ‘missing link’ between neuropeptide S in tetrapod vertebrates and crustacean cardioactive peptide in protostomes. More recently, sequencing of the neural transcriptome of the starfish Asterias rubens (Class Asteroidea) enabled identification of 40 neuropeptide precursors, including the first kisspeptin and melanin-concentrating hormone-type precursors to be identified outside of the chordates. Furthermore, the characterization of a corazonin-type neuropeptide signalling system in A. rubens has provided important new insights into the evolution of gonadotropin-releasing hormone-related neuropeptides. Looking forward, the discovery of multiple neuropeptide signalling systems in echinoderms provides opportunities to investigate how these systems are used to regulate physiological and behavioural processes in the unique context of a decentralized, pentaradial bauplan.
Highlights
18! Abstract 19! Neuropeptides are evolutionarily ancient mediators of neuronal signalling that 20! regulate a wide range of physiological processes and behaviours in animals. 21! Neuropeptide signalling has been investigated extensively in vertebrates and 22! protostomian invertebrates, which include the ecdysozoans Drosophila 23! melanogaster (Phylum Arthropoda) and Caenorhabditis elegans (Phylum 24! Nematoda)
48! Author Biography 49! Dean Semmens has a BSc in Molecular and Cellular Biology (University of 50! Bath, 2011), a PhD in Neurobiology (Queen Mary University of London, 2015) 51! and is a Leverhulme Trust-funded Postdoctoral Fellow. 52! 53! Maurice Elphick studied at Royal Holloway University of London (BSc Biology, 54! 1988; PhD Neurobiology, 1991) and became Professor of Physiology and 55! Neuroscience at Queen Mary University of London in 2004. 56! 57! Key Words 58! Neuropeptide; evolution; genomics; echinoderms; sea urchin; starfish
105! The turn of twenty-first century heralded the beginning of the post-genomic 106! era and sequencing of the genomes of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans 107! in 1998 [19], the fruit-fly Drosophila melanogaster in 2000 [20] and Homo
Summary
80! (Urbilateria) more than 550 million years ago [9, 10]. 81! neuropeptide signalling pathways are key components of the nervous. More typically, there is relatively little sequence similarity shared by related. Neuropeptides from different phyla and establishing relationships is. [17] or functional similarity [18]. Era and sequencing of the genomes of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans 107! Encoding neuropeptide precursors and receptors in these species [8, 22, 23]. PQHWSYGLRPG-NH2) shares only modest sequence similarity with AKH. Revealed both loss and expansion of some neuropeptide receptor families. Of the owl limpet L. gigantea identified over 40 neuropeptide precursors [38]. C (AST-C) to be identified in a molluscan species [38]. (ii) deuterostomian neuropeptide S (NPS) and protostomian crustacean. Protostomian allatostatin A (AST-A) [10] 169! and protostomian allatostatin A (AST-A) [10]
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