A plant diterpene counteracts juvenile hormone-mediated gene regulation during Drosophila melanogaster larval development

PLoS One. 2018 Jul 16;13(7):e0200706. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200706. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Many plant species possess compounds with juvenile hormone disruptor (JHD) activity. In some plant species, such activity has been attributed to diterpene secondary metabolites. Plant JHD diterpenes disrupt insect development by interfering with the juvenile hormone (JH)-mediated formation of JH receptor complexes. Here, we demonstrate that a plant extract and a diterpene from Lindera erythrocarpa (methyl lucidone) interfere with the formation of both methoprene-tolerant (Met)/Taiman and Germ cell-expressed (GCE)/Taiman heterodimer complexes in yeast two-hybrid assays in vitro. In addition to the in vitro JHD activity, the diterpene and the plant extract from L. erythrocarpa also disrupt the development of larvae and pupae in Drosophila melanogaster. Comparing the transcriptomes of juvenile hormone analog (JHA, methoprene)- and JHD (methyl lucidone)-fed wandering third-instar larvae revealed a large number of genes that were coregulated by JHA and JHD. Moreover, most (83%) of the genes that were repressed by methyl lucidone were significantly activated by methoprene, indicating that JHDs and JHAs have opposing effects on the transcriptional regulation of many JH-dependent genes. Gene ontology analysis also suggested that some of the genes activated-by-JHA/repressed-by-JHD play roles in spermatogenesis. Affymetrix microarray-based analysis indicated that the expression of genes activated-by-JHA/repressed-by-JHD was testis-specific. Together, these results suggest that JH is involved in testis-specific gene expression and that plant JHD diterpenes function as JH antagonists in such JHA-mediated gene regulation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Diterpenes / chemistry
  • Diterpenes / pharmacology*
  • Drosophila melanogaster
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / drug effects*
  • Juvenile Hormones / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Juvenile Hormones / metabolism
  • Larva
  • Lindera / chemistry*
  • Plant Extracts / chemistry
  • Plant Extracts / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Diterpenes
  • Juvenile Hormones
  • Plant Extracts

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the KRIBB Research Initiative Program (KGM4981814), awarded to H.O., and the National Research Foundation of Korea (2016M3A9A5919255), awarded to DP. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.