Identification of kinin-related peptides in the disease vector, Rhodnius prolixus

  • Peptides. 2011 Mar;32(3):469-74. doi: 10.1016/j.peptides.2010.10.002.
Victoria Te Brugge  1 ,  Jean-Paul Paluzzi ,  Susanne Neupert ,  Ronald J Nachman ,  Ian Orchard
Affiliations
  • 1. Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Road North, Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6, Canada.
PMID: 20934474 DOI: 10.1016/j.peptides.2010.10.002
Abstract

We have used an in silico approach to identify a gene from the blood-gorging vector, Rhodnius prolixus, that is predicted to produce an insect kinin prepropeptide. The prepropeptide is 398 Amino acids in length and can potentially produce a large number of kinin-related Peptides following post-translational processing. A comparison with other insect kinin precursor sequences demonstrates greatest conservation at the C-terminal region of the kinin Peptides. Multiple Peptides predicted from the kinin gene are phenotypically expressed in R. prolixus, as revealed by MALDI-TOF MS MS, including 12 kinins and one kinin precursor peptide (KPP). Six of these Peptides are characterized by the typical insect kinin C-terminal motif FX(1)X(2)WGamide and five of these are also found as truncated forms. Five Peptides were identified with an atypical, though similar, FX(1)X(2)WAamide C-terminus. There is also peptide with a C-terminal DDNGamide motif and a number of non-amidated Peptides.

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