Bombyx prothoracicostatic peptides activate the sex peptide receptor to regulate ecdysteroid biosynthesis.

Insect molting and metamorphosis are induced by steroid hormones named ecdysteroids, whose production is regulated by various neuropeptides. We cloned the gene and analyzed the expression of the prothoracicostatic peptide, a unique neuropeptide shown to suppress the production of ecdysteroids in the prothoracic gland of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. We also characterized a Bombyx G protein-coupled receptor, which has previously been identified as an ortholog of the Drosophila sex peptide receptor, as a functional prothoracicostatic peptide receptor. This receptor responded specifically to the prothoracicostatic peptides when examined using a heterologous expression system. The receptor was highly expressed in the prothoracic gland on the day before each larval and pupal ecdysis, when prothoracicostatic peptides are synthesized at a high level in the epiproctodeal glands. These results suggest that the sex peptide receptor functions as a prothoracicostatic peptide receptor in Bombyx and that the peripheral neurosecretory cells as well as the central neuroendocrine system play stage-specific roles in regulating ecdysteroidogenesis.