Allatotropin is a pleiotropic peptide found in various
invertebrates that shows myoregulatory activity. The name
derives from its activity in regulating juvenile hormone biosynthesis
by corpora allata in insects.
M. sexta allatotropin (Manse-AT) is a tridecapeptide
with its C-terminal amidation. The family of this peptides,
either isolated or predicted from cDNA sequences
and transcriptomic data, have a similar sequence length
(13–16 aa residues) and an amidated C-terminus.
Gene, mRNA, and precursor
Three alternatively spliced mRNAs for Manse-AT
have been characterized.3 Each mRNA encodes a precursor
protein, from which one copy of Manse-AT is derived.
The two longer mRNAs contain the insertion of one or
two alternative exons, each of which codes for one or
two additional peptides structurally related to Manse-
AT (Manse-ATL (AT-like) -I, -II, -III). A cDNA coding
for a precursor protein containing Manse-AT and a peptide
similar to Manse-ATL-III have been reported in other
Lepidoptera, suggesting that the presence of the ATL
peptide in addition to AT is not limited to M. sexta.
Manse-AT stimulates JH biosynthesis by adult female
CA from many lepidopteran insects, and larval CA from
some lepidopteran species.Manse-AT is also reported to
stimulate the CA of nonlepidopteran insects, such as the
honey bee and blow fly, although no allatotropic peptide
has been isolated from these insects.The expression of
ATR in the CA observed in some insects readily explains
the action of AT on the CA, but its expression in the CC
rather than the CA in B. mori does not. In this species,
because the ATR-expressing cells in the CC produce short
neuropeptide-F (sNPF) and this peptide inhibits the JH
synthetic activity of the CA in vitro, it is proposed that
ATR may indirectly mediate AT activity on the CA by
suppressing sNPF action on the CA.Besides the action
on the CA, AT accelerates the heart rate, inhibits ion
transport across the midgut epithelium, and controls
the release of digestive enzymes in the midgut as well
as muscle contraction, eventually affecting feeding
behavior.10AT family peptides from hemimetabolous
insects such as locust myotropin also show cardiostimulatory
and myoregulatory activities.The effects of AT on
noninsect invertebrates have been examined using synthetic
mosquito AT. This AT showed myoregulatory
activity on the turbellarians and hydra.A widespread
role of AT in myoregulation and the presence of AT in
organisms that do not have JH suggest that the primary
role of AT is myoregulation and that the control of JH
synthesis is secondary.