Cited by 105Neuropeptides and Animal PhysiologyHypothalamic control of reproductive hormonesNeurobiology and Insect Physiology Research

The evolution and nomenclature of GnRH-type and corazonin-type neuropeptide signaling systems

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Zandawala, Meet, Tian, Shi, Elphick, Maurice R.·2018·General and Comparative Endocrinology

Abstract

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) was first discovered in mammals on account of its effect in triggering pituitary release of gonadotropins and the importance of this discovery was recognized forty years ago in the award of the 1977 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Investigation of the evolution of GnRH revealed that GnRH-type signaling systems occur throughout the chordates, including agnathans (e.g. lampreys) and urochordates (e.g. sea squirts). Furthermore, the discovery that adipokinetic hormone (AKH) is the ligand for a GnRH-type receptor in the arthropod Drosophila melanogaster provided evidence of the antiquity of GnRH-type signaling. However, the occurrence of other AKH-like peptides in arthropods, which include corazonin and AKH/corazonin-related peptide (ACP), has complicated efforts to reconstruct the evolutionary history of this family of related neuropeptides. Genome/transcriptome sequencing has revealed that both GnRH-type receptors and corazonin-type receptors occur in lophotrochozoan protostomes (annelids, mollusks) and in deuterostomian invertebrates (cephalochordates, hemichordates, echinoderms). Furthermore, peptides that act as ligands for GnRH-type and corazonin-type receptors have been identified in mollusks. However, what has been lacking is experimental evidence that distinct GnRH-type and corazonin-type peptide-receptor signaling pathways occur in deuterostomes. Importantly, we recently reported the identification of two neuropeptides that act as ligands for either a GnRH-type receptor or a corazonin-type receptor in an echinoderm species - the common European starfish Asterias rubens. Discovery of distinct GnRH-type and corazonin-type signaling pathways in this deuterostomian invertebrate has demonstrated for the first time that the evolutionarily origin of these paralogous systems can be traced to the common ancestor of protostomes and deuterostomes. Furthermore, lineage-specific losses of corazonin signaling (in vertebrates, urochordates and nematodes) and duplication of the GnRH signaling system in arthropods (giving rise to the AKH and ACP signaling systems) and quadruplication of the GnRH signaling system in vertebrates (followed by lineage-specific losses or duplications) accounts for the phylogenetic distribution of GnRH/corazonin-type peptide-receptor pathways in extant animals. Informed by these new insights, here we review the history of research on the evolution of GnRH/corazonin-type neuropeptide signaling. Furthermore, we propose a standardized nomenclature for GnRH/corazonin-type neuropeptides wherein peptides are either named "GnRH" or "corazonin", with the exception of the paralogous GnRH-type peptides that have arisen by gene duplication in the arthropod lineage and which are referred to as "AKH" (or red pigment concentrating hormone, "RCPH", in crustaceans) and "ACP".

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Authors
Zandawala, M., Tian, S., & Elphick, M. R.
Affiliations
  • Stockholm University (SE)
  • Queen Mary University of London (GB)
Corresponding author
Elphick, Maurice R.
Venue
General and Comparative Endocrinology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2018-08
Volume
264
Pages
64-77
ISSN
0016-6480 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2625671288
Cited by
105
References
142
Citations by year
2026: 9 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 5 · 2015: 1
FWCI
1.42
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • General and Comparative Endocrinology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Queen Mary Research Online (Queen Mary University of London) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • BBSRC (BB/M001644/1, BB/M001032/1)
  • Leverhulme Trust (RGP-2013-351)
  • China Scholarship Council
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuropeptides and Animal Physiology
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
Keywords
gonadotropin-releasing hormone, corazonin, adipokinetic hormone, neuropeptide evolution, Asterias rubens, Echinodermata, Chordata, lamprey, ascidians, Drosophila melanogaster, protostomes, deuterostomes, gene duplication
MeSH terms
Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone, Neuropeptides, Terminology as Topic, Phylogeny, Signal Transduction, Evolution, Molecular, Insect Proteins

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