Developmental Maturation: Drosophila AstA Signaling Provides a Kiss to Grow Up.

ABSTRACT

Insect metamorphosis and mammalian puberty exhibit similar design principles, but the conservation of molecular components has not been documented. A new study demonstrates that the insect neuropeptide allatostatin A and its receptor AstAR1 activate a neuroendocrine signaling cascade that initiates metamorphosis, similar to the way in which their mammalian orthologs Kisspeptin and KISS1R induce puberty.