Li Haolin, Kong Xue, Yang Dongyu, Fang Yan, Yang Han, Zhang Wenjie, Wei Jiguang, Li Xuesheng
College of Agriculture, Guangxi University, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Agric-Environment and Agric-products Safety, Nanning, Guangxi 530004, People's Republic of China.
Department of Entomology and MOA Key Lab of Pest Monitoring and Green Management, College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100000, People's Republic of China.
J Insect Physiol. 2025 Apr;162:104791. doi: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2025.104791. Epub 2025 Mar 4.
Insects rely on juvenile hormones to regulate various physiological processes, including reproduction and molting; currently eight forms of this hormone are known. In most insects, only JH Ⅲ is synthesized. Meanwhile, aphids produce JH Ⅲ and JH Ⅲ skipped bisepoxide (JHSB). However, it remains unclear whether these compounds play distinct roles in functional regulation. In this study, we demonstrated that the tested concentrations of JH Ⅲ effectively increased the number of aphid offspring, whereas high concentrations of JHSB affected the molting process. Drip experiments showed that 10 mg/L JH Ⅲ increased the number of offspring from 39.38 ± 8.03 to 56.50 ± 13.17, whereas 10 mg/L JHSB resulted in a 60.00 %± 5.77 % failure rate in molting before adulthood. Transcriptomic analysis also revealed that in the JH Ⅲ treatment group, 9 genes and 7 pathways associated with reproduction were expressed, but not genes or pathways associated with molting. In addition, 16 genes and 9 pathways associated with molting as well as 5 genes and 4 pathways associated with reproduction were identified in the JHSB treatment group. JH Ⅲ promotes reproduction in aphids by enhancing Vg expression, whereas JHSB affects molting by inhibiting the synthesis of molting hormone-related enzymes. The results indicate that JH Ⅲ and JHSB exhibit diverse functions in Aphis craccivora. The findings have significant implications for further studies on the physiological functions of different JHs.
昆虫依靠保幼激素来调节各种生理过程，包括繁殖和蜕皮；目前已知这种激素有八种形式。在大多数昆虫中，仅合成保幼激素Ⅲ（JHⅢ）。与此同时，蚜虫会产生JHⅢ和保幼激素Ⅲ跳过双环氧物（JHSB）。然而，这些化合物在功能调节中是否发挥不同作用仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们证明，所测试浓度的JHⅢ有效增加了蚜虫后代的数量，而高浓度的JHSB影响蜕皮过程。点滴实验表明，10mg/L的JHⅢ使后代数量从39.38±8.03增加到56.50±13.17，而10mg/L的JHSB导致成虫前蜕皮失败率达到60.00%±5.77%。转录组分析还显示，在JHⅢ处理组中，有9个与繁殖相关的基因和7条途径表达，但与蜕皮相关的基因或途径未表达。此外，在JHSB处理组中鉴定出16个与蜕皮相关的基因和9条途径以及5个与繁殖相关的基因和4条途径。JHⅢ通过增强Vg表达促进蚜虫繁殖，而JHSB通过抑制蜕皮激素相关酶的合成影响蜕皮。结果表明，JHⅢ和JHSB在豆蚜中表现出不同的功能。这些发现对进一步研究不同保幼激素的生理功能具有重要意义。
