Isolation and primary structure of a novel adipokinetic peptide from the pyrgomorphid grasshopper, Phymateus leprosus

Using a heterologous bioassay, monitoring lipid increase in the haemolymph of migratory locusts, two peptides have been purified from methanolic extracts of corpora cardiaca of the pyrgomorphid grasshopper, Phymateus leprosus. The structures of both peptides were elucidated by a combination of Edman degradation, after deblocking the N-terminal pyroglutamic acid residue, and mass spectrometric techniques. One peptide is an octapeptide (pGlu-Leu-Asn-Phe-Ser-Thr-Gly-Trp-NH2) which also occurs in desert locusts; the second peptide is a novel decapeptide member of the AKH-family (pGlu-Leu-Thr-Phe-Thr-Pro-Asn-Trp-Gly-Ser-NH2).