Analysis of sequence conservation.

<p>A) Multiple sequence alignment of the long <i>S. gregaria</i> OMP-DH precursor and several homologous insect precursors, performed with use of the ClustalW program (<a href="http://www.ebi.ac.uk/clustalw/" target="_blank">http://www.ebi.ac.uk/clustalw/</a>), available from the European Bioinformatics Institute. Default parameters were used. The consensus is presented under each part of the alignment as follows: ‘*’ represents a position at which an amino acid is completely conserved, while ‘:’ and ‘.’ represent positions with lower degrees of conservation. The dashed boxes indicate the OMP-encoding region of the <i>S. gregaria</i> precursor (the region between the signal peptide and the first cleavage site of the <i>S. gregaria</i> precursor) and the corresponding region of the other precursors. The full boxes indicate the CRF-like DH coding region, flanked by dibasic cleavage sites (“(G)KR”). Abbreviations: <i>Apime</i>-DHP, <i>Apis mellifera</i> CRF-like DH precursor <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0031425#pone.0031425-Hummon1" target="_blank">[16]</a>; <i>Harsa</i>-DHP, <i>Harpegnathos saltator</i> CRF-like DH precursor (UniProtKB/TrEMBL: E2B7W2); <i>Schgr</i>-DHP, <i>S. gregaria</i> OMP-DH-L precursor (described in this paper); <i>Rhopr</i>-DHP, <i>Rhodnius prolixus</i> CRF-like DH precursor <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0031425#pone.0031425-TeBrugge1" target="_blank">[5]</a>, UniProtKB/TrEMBL: F1AYR6; <i>Trica</i>-DHP, <i>Tribolium castaneum</i> CRF-like DH (47) precursor <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0031425#pone.0031425-Li1" target="_blank">[17]</a>. B) Alignment of the CRF-like peptides and OMPs from <i>Schistocerca gregaria</i> (<i>Schgr</i>-DH and <i>Schgr</i>-OMP) and <i>Locusta migratoria</i> (<i>Locmi</i>-CRF/DH and <i>Locmi</i>-OMP). Both CRF-like peptides are C-terminally amidated (“a”). Abbreviations: <i>Locmi</i>-CRF/DH, CRF-like DH from <i>L. migratoria </i><a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0031425#pone.0031425-Kay1" target="_blank">[6]</a>–<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0031425#pone.0031425-Lehmberg1" target="_blank">[7]</a>, UniProtKB/TrEMBL: P23465); <i>Schgr</i>-DH, CRF-like DH from <i>S. gregaria</i> (this paper); <i>Locmi</i>-OMP, Ovary Maturating Parsin from <i>L. migratoria </i><a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0031425#pone.0031425-Girardie1" target="_blank">[19]</a>, UniProtKB/TrEMBL: P80045; <i>Schgr</i>-OMP: the longest Ovary Maturating Parsin isoform from <i>S. gregaria </i><a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0031425#pone.0031425-Girardie4" target="_blank">[22]</a>.