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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
In vertebrates, receptors of the rhodopsin G-protein coupled superfamily (GPCRs) play an
important role in the regulation of feeding and energy homeostasis and are activated by peptide
hormones produced in the brain-gut axis.These peptides regulate appetite and energy
expenditure by promoting or inhibiting food intake. Sequence and function homologs of
human GPCRs involved in feeding exist in the nematode roundworm, Caenorhabditis elegans
(C. elegans), and the arthropod fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster (D. melanogaster),
suggesting that the mechanisms that regulate food intake emerged early and have been
conserved during metazoan radiation. Nematodes and arthropods are the most diverse and
successful animal phyla on Earth. They can survive in a vast diversity of environments and
have acquired distinct life styles and feeding strategies.The aim of the present review is to
investigate if this diversity has affected the evolution of invertebrate GPCRs. Homologs of
the C. elegans and D. melanogaster rhodopsin receptorswere characterized in the genome
of other nematodes and arthropods and receptor evolution compared.With the exception
of bombesin receptors (BBR) that are absent from nematodes, a similar gene complement
was found. In arthropods, rhodopsin GPCR evolution is characterized by species-specific
gene duplications and deletions and in nematodes by gene expansions in species with
a free-living stage and gene deletions in representatives of obligate parasitic taxa. Based
upon variation in GPCR gene number and potentially divergent functions within phyla we
hypothesize that life style and feeding diversity practiced by nematodes and arthropods
was one factor that contributed to rhodopsin GPCR gene evolution. Understanding how
the regulation of food intake has evolved in invertebrates will contribute to the development
of novel drugs to control nematodes and arthropods and the pests and diseases that
use them as vectors.
Description
Keywords
Rhodopsin GPCR Feeding Conservation Evolution Invertebrates
Citation
Cardoso JC, Félix RC, Fonseca VG, Power DM., "Feeding and the rhodopsin family g-protein coupled receptors in nematodes and arthropods" in Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2012 Dec 18;3:157.
Publisher
Frontiers