The PK/PBAN family is a multifunctional family of peptides that plays a major role in the physiology of insects. The family comprises of peptides such as PBAN, melanization and reddish coloration hormone (MRCH), pyrokinins, myotropins, pheromonotropin (Pss-PT) and diapause hormone (DH) - which have been found to control a variety of functions such as: stimulation of sex pheromone biosynthesis in adult female moths, cuticular melanization in moth larvae, contraction of the locust oviduct, myotropic activity of the cockroach and locust guts, egg diapause in the silkworm, and acceleration of pupariation in flesh-fly larvae. Despite the intensive studies of the bioactivity of this family, very little is known about the molecular and cellular basis that underlies the functional diversity of the PK/PBAN family. In the past few years our studies focused on a detailed characterization of the structure activity relationship (SAR) of the PK/PBAN family, on characterization of the PK/PBAN receptor and on the development of a novel strategy for the generation of PK/PBAN antagonists and their employment in studying the mode of action of the PK/PBAN peptides. Our results on those topics and their implementation for the development of a novel approach for rational design of insecticide prototypes will be presented.
7th International Workshop on the Molecular Biology and Genetics of the Lepidoptera in Crete, Greece (2006)
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