摘要:Insulin is one of the most extensively studied protein hormones, and its structure and function have been elucidated in many vertebrate species, ranging from human to fish. Insulin-like peptides (ILPs) also have been found and characterized in different invertebrates, including nematodes, mollusks and insects. However, insect ILPs turned out to be a structurally diverse group encoded by large multi-gene families that are expressed in the brain and other tissues and serve functions different from vertebrate insulin. Recent physiological and genetic studies have revealed that, in different insect species, the conserved insulin signaling pathway plays a key role in the regulation of a variety of fundamental processes, such as metabolism, growth, reproduction and aging. Here, the structures, distributions, conserved signaling pathways, and physiological functions of insect ILPs are reviewed in detail.