Abstract: In present study, zooblooting, ELISA and whole-mount immunocytochemistry methods were used to identify the FXPRLamide family neuropeptides from the Japanese oak silkworm, Antheraea yamamai. The results showed that the genomic DNA from Antheraea yamamai showed positive bands after hybridized with the fragment of DH-PBAN cDNA from Samia cynthia ricini, which labeled with [ -32P]-dCTP. The SG showed highest FXPRLamide peptides titer in neural organs. Using an antiserum against H. armigera PBAN, PBAN-like immunoreactivity was detected in the SG and TG of Antheraea yamamai by whole-mount immunocytochemistry, and there were three clusters cells in the SG which shows positive PBAN-like immunoreactivity. The titers of FXPRLamide peptides immunoreactivity in the hemolymph kept a steady level. When pupation, the titer increased promptly, but decreased to a low level after early pupal stage. The above results demonstrated the existence of FXPRLamide family peptides in Antheraea yamamai, but its function need to be further investigated in the future.

Key words: Antheraea Yamamai, FXPRLamide family neyropeptides, immunocytochemistry, identification