Adipokinetic hormones and their G protein-coupled receptors emerged in Lophotrochozoa

Most multicellular animals belong to two evolutionary lineages, the Proto– and Deuterostomia, which diverged 640–760 million years (MYR) ago. Neuropeptide signaling is abundant in animals belonging to both lineages, but it is often unclear whether there exist evolutionary relationships between the neuropeptide systems used by proto- or deuterostomes. An exception, however, are members of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) receptor superfamily, which occur in both evolutionary lineages, where GnRHs are the ligands in Deuterostomia and GnRH-like peptides, adipokinetic hormone (AKH), corazonin, and AKH/corazonin-related peptide (ACP) are the ligands in Protostomia. AKH is a well-studied insect neuropeptide that mobilizes lipids and carbohydrates from the insect fat body during flight. In our present paper, we show that AKH is not only widespread in insects, but also in other Ecdysozoa and in Lophotrochozoa. Furthermore, we have cloned and deorphanized two G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) from the oyster Crassostrea gigas (Mollusca) that are activated by low nanomolar concentrations of oyster AKH (pQVSFSTNWGSamide). Our discovery of functional AKH receptors in molluscs is especially significant, because it traces the emergence of AKH signaling back to about 550 MYR ago and brings us closer to a more complete understanding of the evolutionary origins of the GnRH receptor superfamily.