Department of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, Osaka Prefecture University, Sakai, Japan.
Division of Applied Science, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Japan.
FEBS Open Bio. 2021 Oct;11(10):2774-2783. doi: 10.1002/2211-5463.13277. Epub 2021 Aug 30.
Juvenile hormones (JHs) are sesquiterpenoids that play important roles in the regulation of growth, metamorphosis, and reproduction in insects. Synthetic JH agonists (JHAs) have been used as insecticides and are categorized as a class of insect growth regulators (IGRs). Natural JHs and synthetic JHAs bind to the JH receptor methoprene-tolerant (Met), which forms a functional JH-receptor complex with steroid receptor coactivators, such as Drosophila melanogaster Taiman (Tai). The ligand-bound Met-Tai complex induces the transcription of JH response genes by binding to specific DNA elements referred to as JH response elements (JHREs). In the present study, we established a reporter gene assay (RGA) for detecting natural JHs and synthetic JHAs in a yeast strain expressing D. melanogaster Met and Tai. The yeast RGA system detected various juvenoid ligands in a dose-dependent manner. The rank order of the ligand potencies of the juvenoids examined in the yeast RGA linearly correlated with those of RGAs for Met-Tai established in mammalian and insect cells. Our new yeast RGA is rapid, easy to handle, cost-effective, and valuable for screening novel JHAs.
保幼激素（JH）是倍半萜烯，在昆虫的生长、变态和生殖调节中发挥重要作用。合成保幼激素激动剂（JHAs）已被用作杀虫剂，属于昆虫生长调节剂（IGRs）的一类。天然 JH 和合成 JHAs 与保幼激素受体蜕皮激素耐受（Met）结合，与甾醇受体共激活剂（如果蝇 Taiman（Tai））形成功能性 JH 受体复合物。配体结合的 Met-Tai 复合物通过与称为 JH 反应元件（JHREs）的特定 DNA 元件结合，诱导 JH 反应基因的转录。在本研究中，我们在表达果蝇 Met 和 Tai 的酵母菌株中建立了一种用于检测天然 JH 和合成 JHA 的报告基因检测（RGA）。酵母 RGA 系统以剂量依赖的方式检测各种幼体配体。在所研究的幼体配体的酵母 RGA 中的效力顺序与在哺乳动物和昆虫细胞中建立的 Met-Tai 的 RGAs 呈线性相关。我们的新酵母 RGA 快速、易于操作、具有成本效益，并且对于筛选新型 JHA 非常有价值。
