Dynamic feedback circuits function as a switch for shaping a maturation-inducing steroid pulse in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Steroid hormones trigger the onset of sexual maturation in animals by initiating genetic response programs that are determined by steroid pulse frequency, amplitude and duration. Although steroid pulses coordinate growth and timing of maturation during development, the mechanisms generating these pulses are not known. Here we show that the ecdysone steroid pulse that drives the juvenile-adult transition in Drosophila is determined by feedback circuits in the prothoracic gland (PG), the major steroid-producing tissue of insect larvae. These circuits coordinate the activation and repression of hormone synthesis, the two key parameters determining pulse shape (amplitude and duration). We show that ecdysone has a positive-feedback effect on the PG, rapidly amplifying its own synthesis to trigg

SUBMITTER: Moeller ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3833430 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature