Flight substrates and their regulation by a member of the AKH/RPCH family of neuropeptides in Cerambycidae

The pattern of metabolic changes during tethered flight with lift-generation was investigated in two South African species of long-horned beetles (family: Cerambycidae), namely Phryneta spinator and Ceroplesis thunbergi. Energy substrates were measured in haemolymph and flight muscles at rest, after a flight period of 1 min at an ambient temperature of 25–29°C, and 1 h thereafter. Flight diminished the levels of proline and carbohydrates in the haemolymph and proline and glycogen in the flight muscles of both species, and caused an increase in the levels of alanine in both compartments. The concentration of lipids in the haemolymph, however, was not changed upon flight in either species. The resting period of 1 h following a 1 min flight episode, was sufficient to reverse the metabolic situation in haemolymph and flight muscles to pre-flight levels in both species. Purification of an extract of the corpora cardiaca from the two beetle species on RP-HPLC, resulted in the isolation and subsequently in the identification (by mass spectrometry, Edman degradation and RP-HPLC) of an octapeptide of the AKH/RPCH family, denoted Pea-CAH-I (pGlu–Val–Asn–Phe–Ser–Pro–Asn–Trpamide), present in each species. It was demonstrated that low doses of Pea-CAH-I elicited increases in the concentration of proline, as well as carbohydrates, in the haemolymph of both species. The levels of lipids, however, remained unchanged upon injection of this peptide. It is concluded that, upon stimulation by flight, the peptide Pea-CAH-I is released from the corpus cardiacum of a cerambycid beetle and is responsible for the regulation of the major flight substrates, proline and carbohydrates, of these beetles.