title: Molecular basis of juvenile hormone signaling.
abstract: Despite important roles played by juvenile hormone (JH) in insects, the mechanisms underlying its action were until recently unknown. A breakthrough has been the demonstration that the bHLH-PAS protein Met is an intracellular receptor for JH. Binding of JH to Met triggers dimerization of Met with its partner protein Tai, and the resulting complex induces transcription of target genes. In addition, JH can potentiate this response by phosphorylating Met and Tai via cell membrane, second-messenger signaling. An important gene induced by the JH-Met-Tai complex is Kr-h1, which inhibits metamorphosis. Kr-h1 represses an 'adult specifier' gene E93. The action of this JH-activated pathway in maintaining the juvenile status is dispensable during early postembryonic development when larvae/nymphs lack competence to metamorphose.
authors.affiliation: Biology Center, Czech Academy of Sciences, Branisovska 31, Ceske Budejovice 37005, Czech Republic. Electronic address: jindra@entu.cas.cz.
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jindra
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Biology, CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Passeig Marítim 37, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Bellés
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Ohwashi 1-2, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8634, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shinoda