Inhibition of juvenile hormone biosynthesis in mosquitoes: effect of allatostatic head factors, PISCF- and YXFGL-amide-allatostatins.

We investigated the role of head factors and allatostatins (ASs) on the regulation of juvenile hormone (JH) synthesis in female adult mosquito. The biosynthetic activity of the Aedes aegypti corpora allata (CA) in vitro was inhibited by factors present in the head. Disconnecting the CA from the brain resulted in a significant increase in the rate of JH biosynthesis. Inhibition was not dependent on intact nervous connections; co-incubation of CA with brains or brain extracts resulted in a significant decrease of JH biosynthesis. This inhibitory effect of brain extracts was reversible and heat stable; extracts lost the inhibitory activity after proteinase K digestion suggesting a peptidic structure. In a first attempt to elucidate the nature of this inhibitory factor, we tested in our CA in vitro system the effect of members of two families of allatostatins already described in mosquitoes. Anopheles gambiae PISCF-allatostatin (homolog to Manduca PISCF-allatostatin) significantly inhibited JH synthesis, while Ae. aegypti YXFGL-amide-allatostatins (homologs to cockroach YXFGL-amide-allatostatins) did not affect JH synthesis. These results represent the first description of an allatostatic effect of PISCF-allatostatins outside the Lepidoptera.