Allatostatins are important regulatory neuropeptides which are widely distributed in invertebrates and execute their functions through either neural or Immoral routes. However, the regulatory mechanism of the gene expression is unclear. In this paper, we report a naturally occurring amisense transcript, named as asMacro-AST A, of the crustacean FGLamide allatostatin gene (Macro-AST A) from the prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii. The asMacro-ASTA contains an 843-bp sequence fully complementary to the 3'end of the Macro-ASTA. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a natural antisense transcript in crustacean and the first endogenous antisense transcript of all identified allatostatin genes. Northern blotting analysis demonstrated that the gene was expressed in the thoracic ganglia where the sense gene was also expressed. Furthermore, we have detected a RNA-RNA duplex between the sense-antisense complementary region by using RNasc protection analysis and RT-PCR. These results suggest that the antisense gene may play a role in the regulation of Macro-AST A gene expression. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.