JUVENILE HORMONE SIGNALING AS POTENTIAL TARGET FOR INSECTS CONTROL AND MANAGEMENT

Abstract

Juvenile hormone is the most important hormone for insect development and regulates several biological activities in arthropods, like in Helicoverpa armigera that belongs to lepidoptera order. Methoprene tolerant (Met) is a protein from the basic helix loop helix/Per-Arnt-Sim (bHLH/PAS) family that has been recently identified as a JH receptor. It can bind to and be activated by JHs and JH agonists. However, details of how met transduce the hormonal signal are missing. Also, ligand binding properties and molecular basis for the structural features of Met is unknown. Here we show that Methyl Fernesoate that is a member of juvenile hormone family of a compound can be used as a potential inhibitor for Methoprene tolerant from Helicoverpa armigera. Met receptor protein from Helicoverpa armigera cDNA was cloned and expressed in a pET vector system and Purified protein was characterized with the aid of computational studies to determine its properties. Our result demonstrates that novel molecules chemistry targeting new pathways in insects may serve as a useful strategy for effective pest management. The results of the present study are preliminary in nature and may be find useful for developing novel molecules for pest management.