Neuropeptide receptors as possible targets for development of insect pest control agents

Vaious insect species have a severe impact on human welfare and environment and thus force us to continuously develop novel agents for pest control. Neuropeptides constitute a very versatile class of bioactive messenger molecules that initiate and/or regulate a wide array of vital biological processes in insects by acting on their respective receptors in the plasmamembrane of target cells. These receptors belong to two distinct categories of signal transducing proteins, i.e., heptahelical or G protein-coupled receptors (7TM, GPCR) and single transmembrane containing receptors. An increasing amount ofevidence indicates that insect neuropeptide-receptor couples play crucial roles in processes as diverse as development, metabolism, ecdysis and reproduction. As such, they gain growing interest as promising candidate targets for the development of a new generation of species- and receptor-specific insect control agents that may generate fewer side effects. In this chapter, we will present some examples of insect neuropeptide receptors and aim to demonstrate their fundamental importance in insect biology.