Abstract
Juvenile hormone (JH) and 20-hydroxyecdysone (20-HE) have a wide range of roles in insects. They interact during development to determine the quality of the moult1–4 and both hormones have been implicated in control of yolk protein synthesis and ovarian development. However, their functions vary in different insects5–7. In adult Drosophila, they have specific effects on the haemolymph proteins. Both JH analogue (JHA) and 20-HE stimulate the synthesis and secretion of three yolk polypeptides (YPs) into the haemolymph of females8,9. However, whereas JHA stimulates synthesis of YPs in both the fat body and the ovary, 20-HE stimulates the synthesis only in the fat body10, and JH, but not 20-HE, induces YP deposition in oocytes9,11,12. 20-HE, but not JHA, evokes YP synthesis in Drosophila males (which do not normally produce these proteins13), and 20-HE treatment of isolated female abdomens stimulates incorporation of 35S-methionine into a protein of molecular weight 79,000 (designated 79K). We have now compared the responses of the YPs and 79K to combinations of JHA and 20-HE given to both male and female Drosophila and show that 79K is a larval serum protein (LSP2) normally secreted by the fat body of third instar larvae. JHA and 20-HE have additive effects on YP synthesis, but JHA antagonizes 20-HE stimulation of LSP2 synthesis. This effect is probably caused by JHA induction of fat body cell death.
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Jowett, T., Postlethwait, J. Hormonal regulation of synthesis of yolk proteins and a larval serum protein (LSP2) in Drosophila. Nature 292, 633–635 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/292633a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/292633a0
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