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Diversity of Insect Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Subunits

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Insect Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 683))

Abstract

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are ligand-gated ion channels that mediate fast synaptic transmission in the insect nervous system and are targets of a major group of insecticides, the neonicotinoids. They consist of five subunits arranged around a central ion channel. Since the subunit composition determines the functional and pharmacological properties of the receptor the presence of nAChR families comprising several subunit-encoding genes provides a molecular basis for broad functional diversity. Analyses of genome sequences have shown that nAChR gene families remain compact in diverse insect species, when compared to their nematode and vertebrate counterparts. Thus, the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), malaria mosquito (Anopheles gambiae), honey bee (Apis mellifera), silk worm (Bombyx mori) and the red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) possess 10–12 nAChR genes while human and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans have 16 and 29 respectively. Although insect nAChR gene families are amongst the smallest known, receptor diversity can be considerably increased by the posttranscriptional processes alternative splicing and mRNA A-to-I editing which can potentially generate protein products which far outnumber the nAChR genes. These two processes can also generate species-specific subunit isoforms. In addition, each insect possesses at least one highly divergent nAChR subunit which may perform species-specific functions. Species-specific subunit diversification may offer promising targets for future rational design of insecticides that target specific pest insects while sparing beneficial species.

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  1. MRC Functional Genomics Unit, Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QX, UK

    Andrew K. Jones & David B. Sattelle

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  1. Andrew K. Jones
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  2. David B. Sattelle
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Correspondence to Andrew K. Jones .

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  1. Laboratoire Récepteurs et Canaux Ioniques Membranaires, RCIM UPRES EA 2647/USC INRA 2023, IFR 149 QUASAV, Université d’Angers, UFR de Sciences, Angers, France

    Steeve Hervé Thany PhD

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Jones, A.K., Sattelle, D.B. (2010). Diversity of Insect Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Subunits. In: Thany, S.H. (eds) Insect Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 683. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6445-8_3

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