Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Canada.
Biology Center of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Institute of Parasitology, 37005 České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Dec 20;24(1):7. doi: 10.3390/ijms24010007.
The rigorous balance of endocrine signals that control insect reproductive physiology is crucial for the success of egg production. , a blood-feeding insect and main vector of Chagas disease, has been used over the last century as a model to unravel aspects of insect metabolism and physiology. Our recent work has shown that nutrition, insulin signaling, and two main types of insect lipophilic hormones, juvenile hormone (JH) and ecdysteroids, are essential for successful reproduction in ; however, the interplay behind these endocrine signals has not been established. We used a combination of hormone treatments, gene expression analyses, hormone measurements, and ex vivo experiments using the corpus allatum or the ovary, to investigate how the interaction of these endocrine signals might define the hormone environment for egg production. The results show that after a blood meal, circulating JH levels increase, a process mainly driven through insulin and allatoregulatory neuropeptides. In turn, JH feeds back to provide some control over its own biosynthesis by regulating the expression of critical biosynthetic enzymes in the corpus allatum. Interestingly, insulin also stimulates the synthesis and release of ecdysteroids from the ovary. This study highlights the complex network of endocrine signals that, together, coordinate a successful reproductive cycle.
内分泌信号的严格平衡控制着昆虫的生殖生理学，对于成功产卵至关重要。吸血昆虫和恰加斯病的主要传播媒介 已被用于上个世纪，以揭示昆虫代谢和生理学的各个方面。我们最近的工作表明，营养、胰岛素信号以及两种主要的昆虫亲脂性激素，即保幼激素（JH）和蜕皮激素，对 的成功繁殖是必不可少的；然而，这些内分泌信号之间的相互作用尚未确定。我们使用激素处理、基因表达分析、激素测量以及使用前胸腺或卵巢的离体实验相结合的方法，研究这些内分泌信号的相互作用如何确定产卵的激素环境。结果表明，在饱餐一顿血液后，循环 JH 水平增加，这一过程主要通过胰岛素和前胸腺神经肽调节。反过来，JH 通过调节前胸腺中关键生物合成酶的表达来反馈，对其自身生物合成提供一定的控制。有趣的是，胰岛素也刺激卵中蜕皮激素的合成和释放。这项研究强调了内分泌信号的复杂网络，这些信号共同协调了一个成功的生殖周期。
