CLONING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF AN mRNA ENCODING AN INSULIN RECEPTOR FROM THE HORNED SCARAB BEETLE Onthophagus nigriventris (COLEOPTERA: SCARABAEIDAE)

The insulin signaling pathway is the primary signaling pathway coupling growth with nutritional condition in all animals. Sensitivity to circulating levels of insulin has been shown to regulate the growth of specific traits in a dose-dependent manner in response to environmental conditions in a diversity of insect species. Alternative phenotypes in insects manifest in a variety of morphologies such as the sexually dimorphic and male dimorphic …