title: A regulatory pathway, ecdysone-transcription factor relish-cathepsin L, is involved in insect fat body dissociation.
abstract: Insect fat body is the organ for intermediary metabolism, comparable to vertebrate liver and adipose tissue. Larval fat body is disintegrated to individual fat body cells and then adult fat body is remodeled at the pupal stage. However, little is known about the dissociation mechanism. We find that the moth Helicoverpa armigera cathepsin L (Har-CL) is expressed heavily in the fat body and is released from fat body cells into the extracellular matrix. The inhibitor and RNAi experiments demonstrate that Har-CL functions in the fat body dissociation in H. armigera. Further, a nuclear protein is identified to be transcription factor Har-Relish, which was found in insect immune response and specifically binds to the promoter of Har-CL gene to regulate its activity. Har-Relish also responds to the steroid hormone ecdysone. Thus, the dissociation of the larval fat body is involved in the hormone (ecdysone)-transcription factor (Relish)-target gene (cathepsin L) regulatory pathway.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Institute of Entomology, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors: Yao
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Yu-Xuan
authors: YX
authors: Lu
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Liu
authors: Cui
authors: C
authors: Yang
authors: Qi-Li
authors: QL
authors: Feng
authors: Wei-Hua
authors: WH
authors: Xu
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D056668:Cathepsin L / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004440:Ecdysone / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005216:Fat Body / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D007814:Larva / Q000254:growth & development; D009036:Moths / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D004440:Ecdysone; D056668:Cathepsin L