Scott Robert L, Diao Fengqiu, Silva Valeria, Park Sanghoon, Luan Haojiang, Ewer John, White Benjamin H
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Centro Interdisciplinario de Neurociencia, Universidad de Valparaiso, Playa Ancha, Valparaiso, CHILE.
iScience. 2020 May 22;23(5):101108. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101108. Epub 2020 Apr 27.
Eclosion hormone (EH) was originally identified as a brain-derived hormone capable of inducing the behavioral sequences required for molting across insect species. However, its role in this process (called ecdysis) has since been confounded by discrepancies in the effects of genetic and cellular manipulations of EH function in Drosophila. Although knock-out of the Eh gene results in severe ecdysis-associated deficits accompanied by nearly complete larval lethality, ablation of the only neurons known to express EH (i.e. V neurons) is only partially lethal and surviving adults emerge, albeit abnormally. Using new tools for sensitively detecting Eh gene expression, we show that EH is more widely expressed than previously thought, both within the nervous system and in somatic tissues, including trachea. Ablating all Eh-expressing cells has effects that closely match those of Eh gene knock-out; developmentally suppressing them severely disrupts eclosion. Our results thus clarify and extend the scope of EH action.
羽化激素（EH）最初被鉴定为一种源自大脑的激素，能够诱导昆虫物种蜕皮所需的行为序列。然而，自那以后，在果蝇中对EH功能进行基因和细胞操作所产生的效应存在差异，这使得其在这个过程（称为蜕皮）中的作用变得复杂。虽然敲除Eh基因会导致与蜕皮相关的严重缺陷，并伴有几乎完全的幼虫致死率，但对已知表达EH的唯一神经元（即V神经元）进行切除只会导致部分致死，存活下来的成虫虽发育异常但仍会羽化。利用灵敏检测Eh基因表达的新工具，我们发现EH的表达范围比之前认为的更广，在神经系统以及包括气管在内的体细胞组织中均有表达。切除所有表达Eh的细胞所产生的效应与Eh基因敲除的效应非常匹配；在发育过程中抑制它们会严重破坏羽化。因此，我们的研究结果阐明并扩展了EH的作用范围。
