| Type: | Family | Name: | Bombyxin B |
| Description: | Bombxin family can be classified into 7 families, A to G, according to their sequence similarity []. This entry represents Bombyxin B. Bombyxin is a brain peptide responsible for activation of prothoracic glands to produce ecdysone in insects []. When cleaved, bombyxins produce both subunits of the biologically active heterodimer. Several molecular species of bombyxin have now been identified in Bombyx, Agrius and Samia moth species. Both bombyxin and insulin contain six cysteine residues with identical distributions and are predicted to have similar tertiary structures, especially in their core regions []. They are not functionally equivalent however. The similarity to insulin has prompted speculation that it may play a role in the regulation of growth, and it has been shown to act as a growth factor for wing imaginal disks and midgut stem cells in some lepidopteran species [, ]. | Short Name: | Bombyxin_B |
