Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Shiomi, Kunihiro
• Fujiwara, Yoshihiro
• Yasukochi, Yuji
• Kajiura, Zenta
• Nakagaki, Masao
• Yaginuma, Toshinobu

Titel

The Pitx homeobox gene in Bombyx mori: Regulation of DH-PBAN neuropeptide hormone gene expression

Ist Teil von

• Molecular and cellular neuroscience, 2007-02, Vol.34 (2), p.209-218

Ort / Verlag

United States: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2007

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The diapause hormone–pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide gene, DH-PBAN, is expressed exclusively in seven pairs of DH-PBAN-producing neurosecretory cells (DHPCs) on the terminally differentiated processes of the subesophageal ganglion (SG). To help reveal the regulatory mechanisms of cell-specific DH-PBAN expression, we identified a cis-regulatory element that regulates expression in DHPCs using the recombinant AcNPV-mediated gene transfer system and a gel-mobility shift assay. Bombyx mori Pitx (BmPitx), a bicoid-like homeobox transcription factor, binds this element and activates DH-PBAN expression. The BmPitx was expressed in various tissues, including DHPCs in the SG. Suppression of DH-PBAN expression by silencing of the BmPitx successfully induced non-diapaused eggs from a diapause egg producer. To the best of our knowledge, this report is the first to identify a neuropeptide-encoding gene as a target of the Pitx transcriptional regulator in invertebrates. Thus, it is tempting to speculate that functional conservation of Pitx family members on neuropeptide gene expression occurs through a “combinational code mechanism” in both vertebrate and invertebrate in neuroendocrine systems.