Bioinformatic prediction of arthropod/nematode-like peptides in non-arthropod, non-nematode members of the Ecdysozoa.

The Onychophora, Priapulida and Tardigrada, along with the Arthropoda, Nematoda and several other small phyla, form the superphylum Ecdysozoa. Numerous peptidomic studies have been undertaken for both the arthropods and nematodes, resulting in the identification of many peptides from each group. In contrast, little is known about the peptides used as paracrines/hormones by species from the other ecdysozoan taxa.

Identification of chelicerate neuropeptides using bioinformatics of publicly accessible expressed sequence tags.

While numerous investigations have focused on the identification of neuropeptides in arthropods, most have been conducted on members of the Hexapoda or Crustacea, and little is currently known about those in the Chelicerata. Here, publicly accessible expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were mined for putative chelicerate neuropeptide-encoding transcripts; the peptides encoded by the ESTs were deduced using on-line peptide prediction programs and homology to known isoforms. Fifty-eight ESTs representing eight peptide families/subfamilies were identified using this strategy.