The embryonic role of juvenile hormone in the firebrat, Thermobia domestica, reveals its function before its involvement in metamorphosis.

ABSTRACT: To gain insights into how juvenile hormone (JH) came to regulate insect metamorphosis, we studied its function in the ametabolous firebrat, Thermobia domestica. Highest levels of JH occur during late embryogenesis, with only low levels thereafter. Loss-of-function and gain-of-function experiments show that JH acts on embryonic tissues to suppress morphogenesis and cell determination and to promote their terminal differentiation. Similar embryonic actions of JH on hemimetabolous insects with short germ band embryos indicate that JH's embryonic role preceded its derived function as the postembryonic regulator of metamorphosis. The postembryonic expansion of JH function likely followed the evolution of flight. Archaic flying insects were considered to lack metamorphosis because tiny, m

SUBMITTER: Truman JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10592639 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature