The POU factor Ventral veins lacking regulates ecdysone and juvenile hormone biosynthesis during development and reproduction of the milkweed bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus

Transcriptional Regulators of Ecdysteroid Biosynthetic Enzymes and Their Roles in Insect Development

“…As a TF that regulates the expression of Halloween genes, Vvl was independently identified in studies using D. melanogaster (Danielsen et al, 2014) and the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum (Cheng et al, 2014). The role of vvl orthologs in ecdysteroid biosynthesis has also been confirmed in other insects, such as the silkworm Bombyx mori (Meng et al, 2015) and the milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus (Sarwar et al, 2020). In D. melanogaster, loss of vvl function results in the reduced expression of most Halloween genes (Danielsen et al, 2014).…”

“…Currently, Vvl and FoxO are the exception of an ecdysteroidogenic TF shown to act in other insects. In particular, a knockdown of vvl results in defects in ecdysteroid biosynthesis in the T. castaneum and O. fasciatus coleopteran insects ( Cheng et al, 2014 ; Sarwar et al, 2020 ). However, besides Vvl, the involvement of other ecdysteroidogenic TFs identified in D. melanogaster in the regulation of ecdysteroid biosynthesis has not been explored in other insects.…”

“…(Vvl-L&S) nvd, spok, sro, phm, dib, sad (Vvl-L) nvd, spok, dib, sad spo, phm phm, dib, sad spo, dib + D. melanogaster D. melanogaster T. castaneum B. mori Oncopeltus fasciatus Cheng et al, 2014;Danielsen et al, 2014;Meng et al, 2015;Sarwar et al, 2020;Zhao et al, 2021 …”

POU-M2 promotes juvenile hormone biosynthesis by directly activating the transcription of juvenile hormone synthetic enzyme genes in Bombyx mori

“…12: 220031 particular, POU-M2 activated the transcription of JHAMT, a key enzyme for JH synthesis, by directly binding to -207, -249 and -453 CREs upstream of JHAMT promoter, thus regulating JH biosynthesis in the CA of the silkworm. Silencing of vvl by RNAi influences the biosynthesis of JH and ecdysone in T. castaneum [36] and O. fasciatus [37]. Here, we demonstrated POU-M2 is highly expressed in the CA of the silkworm to promote JH biosynthesis by directly activating the transcription of JH synthase genes, which is a significant step forward in the transcriptional regulation of JH biosynthesis.…”

“…Recently, Cheng et al have found that RNAi of vvl reduces the expression of JHAMT3, ecdysone response gene hormone receptor 3 (HR3), ecdysone synthesis gene phantom and spook, and causes precocious metamorphosis and impaired moulting in T. castaneum [36], suggesting that vvl may affect JH and ecdysone synthesis. Sarwar et al find silencing of vvl by RNAi reduces the expression of HR3, spook and kr-h1, and impacts JH and ecdysteroid synthesis in O. fasciatus, indicating vvl may be a key factor in JH and ecdysteroid synthesis [37]. However, how vvl regulates JH biosynthesis remains poorly understood.…”