title: Apis mellifera ultraspiracle: cDNA sequence and rapid up-regulation by juvenile hormone.
abstract: Two hormones, 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) and juvenile hormone (JH) are key regulators of insect development including the differentiation of the alternative caste phenotypes of social insects. In addition, JH plays a different role in adult honey bees, acting as a 'behavioural pacemaker'. The functional receptor for 20E is a heterodimer consisting of the ecdysone receptor and ultraspiracle (USP) whereas the identity of the JH receptor remains unknown. We have cloned and sequenced a cDNA encoding Apis mellifera ultraspiracle (AMUSP) and examined its responses to JH. A rapid, but transient up-regulation of the AMUSP messenger is observed in the fat bodies of both queens and workers. AMusp appears to be a single copy gene that produces two transcripts ( approximately 4 and approximately 5 kb) that are differentially expressed in the animal's body. The predicted AMUSP protein shows greater sequence similarity to its orthologues from the vertebrate-crab-tick-locust group than to the dipteran-lepidopteran group. These characteristics and the rapid up-regulation by JH suggest that some of the USP functions in the honey bee may depend on ligand binding.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Genética, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. barchuk@rge.fmrp.usp.br
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Barchuk
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maleszka
authors.forename: Z L P
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Simões
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001516:Bees / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000187:drug effects*; D007605:Juvenile Hormones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D011987:Receptors, Steroid / Q000378:metabolism; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012930:Social Dominance; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D007605:Juvenile Hormones; D011987:Receptors, Steroid; D014157:Transcription Factors; C066030:USP protein, Drosophila; C055469:ecdysone receptor