Abstract
In insects, especially in mosquitoes that are adult blood feeders, midgut remodeling is an important event during metamorphosis. It involves two processes viz., programmed cell death (PCD) of larval cells, and proliferation and differentiation of imaginal cells to form pupal/adult midgut. These processes are regulated by 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) and juvenile hormone (JH), but the signaling mechanisms, which trigger specific changes remain poorly understood. Here, we report stage- and cell-specific expression of ecydone receptor (EcR), ultraspiracle (USP), broad (Br), E75B and hormone receptor 3 (HR3) during midgut remodeling in Aedes aegypti. In Ae. aegypti both EcR and USP genes code for two isoforms each and the expression of mRNA for these isoforms showed both stage- and cell-specific regulation. In general, EcR-B and USP-A mRNAs were detected during larval stages in larval cells, and EcR-A and USP-B mRNAs were detected during pupal stages in imaginal cells. These data suggest that EcR-B/USP-A heterodimer is important for PCD of larval cells and EcR-A/USP-B heterodimer is important for formation of pupal/adult midgut. Broad Z1 mRNA was detected only in the larval cells suggesting its primary role in PCD. It is likely that E75B and HR3 are probably involved in both PCD and imaginal cell proliferation and differentiation as their mRNAs were expressed in the larval as well as in imaginal cells. Application of JH analog, methoprene, lowered or delayed the expression of all the genes studied. These data suggest that 20E plays a major role in midgut remodeling and coordinates this process through stage- and cell-specific expression of different isoforms of nuclear receptors and transcription factors in the target larval and imaginal cells.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 216-229 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Journal of Insect Physiology |
Volume | 53 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2007 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Supported by the NIH grant RO1 GM070559-01. We would like to thank Dr. Doug Harrison from University of Ketucky for use of confocal microscope. This is contribution number 06-08-134 from the Kentucky Agricultural Experimental Station.
Keywords
- 20-hydroxyecdysone
- Gene expression
- Metamorphosis
- Methoprene
- Mosquito
- Nuclear receptors
- Programmed cell death
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physiology
- Insect Science