Drosophila suzukii is a highly polyphagous invasive pest which has been recently introduced into Europe and North America, where it is causing severe economic losses through larval infestations of stone and berry fruits. The peptidome of the selected nervous tissues of adult D. suzukii was investigated as a first step in identifying potential targets for the development of novel
insecticides. Through in silico analyses of the D. suzukii genome databases 28
neuropeptide families, comprising more than 70 predicted
peptides were identified. Using a combination of liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry of
tissue extracts, 33 predicted
peptides, representing 15 different
peptide families were identified by their molecular masses and a total of 17
peptide sequences were confirmed by ion fragmentation. A comparison between the
peptides and precursors of D. suzukii and D. melanogaster shows they are highly conserved, with differences only identified in the amino acid sequences of the
peptides encoded in the
FMRFamide, hugin and ecydysis triggering
hormone precursors. All other
peptides predicted and identified from D. suzukii appear to be identical to those previously characterized from D. melanogaster.
Adipokinetic hormone was only identified in the corpus cardiacum, other
peptides present included short
neuropeptide F, a
pyrokinin and myosuppressin, the latter of which was the only
peptide identified from the crop nerve bundle.
Peptides present in extracts of the brain and/or thoracico-abdominal
ganglion included allatostatins,
cardioacceleratory peptide 2b,
corazonin, extended FMRFamides, pyrokinins, myoinihibitory
peptides,
neuropeptide-like precursor 1, SIFamide, short
neuropeptide F,
kinin, sulfakinins and
tachykinin related
peptides.