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Kite Jones

PhD Student

Email: kite.jones@qmul.ac.uk

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Project Title: Functional characterisation of neuropeptides that act as ligands for secretin-type receptors in an echinoderm.

Summary: Neuropeptide signalling systems are evolutionarily ancient regulators of physiology and behaviour across the Bilateria. Derived from larger precursor proteins, most neuropeptides bind to G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) belonging to rhodopsin-β, rhodopsin-γ and secretin-type receptor families. 

Examples of neuropeptides that act via secretin-type GPCRs are parathyroid hormone (PTH), a key regulator of calcium metabolism in vertebrates, and pigment dispersing factor (PDF), a key component of the insect circadian pacemaker. Other members of this family include calcitonin, corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) and glucagon. The aim of this project is to identify computationally and experimentally the neuropeptides that act as ligands for secretin-type GPCRs in an echinoderm, the starfish Asterias rubens. Then, the physiological roles of these neuropeptides in A. rubens will be investigated by analysis of their expression and in vitro/in vivo pharmacological actions.

As non-chordate deuterostomes, echinoderms occupy an 'intermediate' phylogenetic position with regard to more commonly studied vertebrate and protostome species. Therefore, characterisation of neuropeptides that act as ligands for secretin-type receptors in A. rubens could provide new insights into the evolution and comparative physiology of this type of neuropeptide signalling.

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