Selected Publications on Bursicon:

Kaltenhauser, U., Kellermann, J., Andersson, K., Lottspeich, F, Honegger, H. W. (1995) purification and partial characterization of bursicon, a cuticle sclerotizing neuropeptide in insects, from Tenebrio molitor. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 25, 525-533.

Kostron, B., Marquardt, K., Kaltenhauser, U., Honegger, H. W. (1995) Bursicon, the cuticle sclerotizing hormone -comparison of its molecular mass in different insects. J. Insect Physiol. 41, 1045-1053.

Kostron, B., Kaltenhauser, U., Seibel, B., Bräunig, P., Honegger, H.W. (1996) Localization of bursicon in CCAP-immunoreactive cells in the thoracic ganglia of the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus  J. Exp. Biol. 199:367–377.

Kostron, B., Market, D., Kellermann, J., Carter, C.E., Honegger, H.W. (1999) Antisera against Periplaneta americana Cu,Zn-

Superoxide dismutase (SOD): separation of the neurohormone bursicon from SOD, and immunodetection  of SOD in the central nervous system. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 29:861-871.

Honegger HW, Market D, Pierce LA, Dewey EM, Kostron B, Wilson M, Choi D, Klukas KA, Mesce KA (2002) Cellular localization of bursicon using antisera against partial peptide sequences of this insect cuticle-sclerotizing neurohormone. J. Comp. Neurol. 452:163-177.

Honegger HW, Dewey EM, Kostron B (2004) From bioassays to Drosophila genetics: Strategies for characterizing an essential insect neurohormone, bursicon. Symposia Biologica Hungarica, 55 (1-4):91-102

Dewey EM, McNabb SL, Ewer J, Kuo GR, Takanishi CL, Truman JW, Honegger HW (2004) Identification of the gene encoding bursicon, an insect neuropeptide responsible for cuticle sclerotization and wing spreading. Current Biology 14:1208-1213.

Luo CW, Dewey EM, Sudo S, Ewer J, Hsu SY, Honegger HW and Hsueh AJ (2005) Bursicon, the insect cuticle hardening hormone, is a heterodimeric cystine knot protein that activates G protein-coupled receptor LGR2. PNAS, 102:2820-2825.

Robertson HM, Navik JA, Walden KKO, Honegger HW (2007) The bursicon gene in mosquitoes: An unusual example of mRNA trans-splicing. Genetics:176:1351-1353.

Dai L, Dewey EM, Zitnan D, Luo C-W, Honegger H-W, Adams ME (2008) Identification, developmental expression, and functions of bursicon in the tobacco hawkmoth, Manduca sexta. J. Comp Neurol:506:759-774.

Honegger H-W, Dewey EM, Ewer J (2008) Bursicon, the tanning hormone of insects; recent  advances  following  the  discovery  of its molecular  identity. J. Comp. Physiol. 194:989-1005.

Woodruff EA, Broadie K, Honegger H-W (2008) Two peptide transmitters co-packaged in  a single neurosecretory  vesicle. Peptides 29:2276-2280.

Peabody NC, Diao F, Luan H, Wang H, Dewey EM, Honegger H-W. White BH (2008) Bursicon functions within the Drosophila CNS to modulate wing expansion behavior, hormone secretion, and cell death. J. Neurosci. 28:14379 –14391.

Honegger HW, Estevez-Lao TY, Hillyer JF (2011) Bursicon-expressing neurons undergo apoptosis after adult ecdysis in the mosquito Anopheles gambiae. J. Insect Physiol. 57:1017–1022.

Research Interests:

My continuous research interest has been focused on how insect behavior is controlled by the nervous system. Since 1995 I directed the research of my group entirely on the molecular identification of the neurohormone bursicon. Since it regulates the hardening of the cuticle of freshly ecdysed insects it was clear that revealing its molecular identity and its receptor would clarify its broader functional role and might potentially provide effective tools for insect control. My group, in collaboration with others, finally succeeded in identifying bursicon and its receptor, published in Current Biology and PNAS in 2004 and 2005 respectively. Our findings, in turn, have triggered the identification of new functions as well as the insight into the high sequence conservation of bursicon among arthropods. Importantly, it is clear now that bursicon also regulates wing inflation and maturation in adults. After my retirement in 2005 Larry Zwiebel invited me to join this powerful group. Since then I have been involved in interactions and advisory activities to explore further functions of bursicon and those of other neuropeptides.