Study on the physiological f unction of IGF-like peptides in insects

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Drosophila insulin-like peptide-6 (DILP6) was identified to be the counterpart of Bombyx IGF-like peptide (BIGFLP), based on its spatiotemporal pattern and ecdysteroid-inducibility of gene expression. The dilp6 mutant had a normal larval size but a smaller adult size. This phenotype of the mutant was rescued by dilp6 overexpression in the fat body after the wandering stage, where and when this gene is normally expressed. These observations, together with our previous study on BIGFLP, strongly suggest that fat body-derived IGF-like peptide is a common regulator of postfeeding growth in insects. A systematic survey of BIGFLP expression in Bombyx revealed that this peptide is also expressed in the brain and gonads in a stage-specific manner, suggesting pleiotropic actions of this peptide in the regulation of Bombyx development.