Evidence for a conserved CCAP-signaling pathway controlling ecdysis in a hemimetabolous insect, Rhodnius prolixus
Do you ever wish you could shed your skin? Do you want to know how? Well the answer to this question, at least for our favorite Chagas disease carrying bug, was recently answered by Ph.D. graduate Dr. DoHee Lee (Lange and Orchard Labs). Dohee just published “Evidence for a conserved CCAP-signaling pathway controlling ecdysis in a hemimetabolous insect, Rhodnius prolixus” in Frontiers in Neuroscience. In holometabolous insects (complete metamorphosis), ecdysis (shedding of the cuticle) is orchestrated by the sequential actions of neuropeptides, one of which is crustacean cardioactive peptide (CCAP). Little is known about the control of ecdysis in hemimetabolous insects (incomplete metamorphosis), like R. prolixus. DoHee found that CCAP is essential for successful ecdysis in R. prolixus, which she demonstrated by the knockdown of the CCAP and CCAPR transcripts using dsRNA. This is the first report of the susceptibility of R. prolixus to dsRNA knockdown of neuropeptide and receptor transcripts, and the data illustrates the conserved nature of the CCAP signaling pathway across insects.
Congratulations on a great PhD, Dohee, and good luck with your post-doc!!