Huybrechts, J., Research Group of Functional Genomics and Proteomics, K.U.Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Bonhomme, J., UMR 1099 INRA/Agrocampus Ouest, Université Rennes 1, Domaine de la Motte, F-35653 Le Rheu, France
Minoli, S., UMR 1099 INRA/Agrocampus Ouest, Université Rennes 1, Domaine de la Motte, F-35653 Le Rheu, France
Prunier-Leterme, N., UMR 1099 INRA/Agrocampus Ouest, Université Rennes 1, Domaine de la Motte, F-35653 Le Rheu, France
Dombrovsky, A., INRA, UMR 1301 IPMSV, 400 route des Chappes, Sophia-Antipolis, France
Abdel-Latief, M., Freie Universität Berlin, Institut für Angewandte Zoologie, Ökologie der Tiere, Haderslebener Straße 9, Berlin, Germany
Robichon, A., INRA, UMR 1301 IPMSV, 400 route des Chappes, Sophia-Antipolis, France
Veenstra, J.A., Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, CNIC, Talence, France
Tagu, D., UMR 1099 INRA/Agrocampus Ouest, Université Rennes 1, Domaine de la Motte, F-35653 Le Rheu, France

Aphids respond to environmental changes by developing alternative phenotypes with differing reproductive modes. Parthenogenetic reproduction occurs in spring and summer, whereas decreasing day lengths in autumn provoke the production of sexual forms. Changing environmental signals are relayed by brain neuroendocrine signals to the ovarioles. We combined bioinformatic analyses with brain peptidomics and cDNA analyses to establish a catalogue of pea aphid neuropeptides and neurohormones. 42 genes encoding neuropeptides and neurohormones were identified, of which several were supported by expressed sequence tags and/or peptide mass analyses. Interesting features of the pea aphid peptidome are the absence of genes coding for corazonin, vasopressin and sulfakinin and the presence of 10 different genes coding insulin related peptides, one of which appears to be very abundantly expressed. © 2010 The Royal Entomological Society.