Vertebrates, insects share the stress

As it turns out, the spineless and the brave stand up to adversity the same way.

A key protein involved in animals’ physiological responses to stress has carried out the same function since before any organism developed a backbone, a study of insects has revealed. That finding suggests that the entire “fight-or-flight” stress-response system based on corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) dates back to a common ancestor of vertebrates and insects.