Molecular characterization and enzymatic analysis of juvenile hormone epoxide hydrolase genes in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum

Insect Mol Biol. 2010 Jun 1;19(3):399-408. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2583.2010.01001.x. Epub 2010 Mar 19.

Abstract

Juvenile hormone epoxide hydrolases (JHEHs) degrade juvenile hormones (JHs) and are important for JH titre regulation. Here, we report the cloning and analysis of five jheh-related (jheh-r1-r5) genes in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, a model species for the coleopteran insects. T. castaneum JHEH-r (TcJHEH-r) proteins show high homology to lepidopteran JHEHs and also to human microsomal epoxide hydrolase. In the phylogenetic tree, Tcjheh-rs were clustered, and interestingly, they were also clustered in the genome. Examination of enzymatic activities using recombinant TcJHEH-r proteins showed that TcJHEH-r3 had strong degradation activity for JH III, whereas TcJHEH-r4 had weak activity. The study has yielded significant information that will facilitate further analysis of JHEHs and epoxide hydrolases.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Cloning, Molecular
  • Enzyme Assays
  • Epoxide Hydrolases / chemistry
  • Epoxide Hydrolases / genetics*
  • Epoxide Hydrolases / metabolism
  • Exons / genetics
  • Expressed Sequence Tags
  • Genome / genetics
  • Introns / genetics
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phylogeny
  • Recombinant Proteins / chemistry
  • Recombinant Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Proteins / metabolism
  • Sequence Analysis, Protein
  • Tribolium / enzymology*
  • Tribolium / genetics*

Substances

  • Recombinant Proteins
  • Epoxide Hydrolases
  • juvenile hormone epoxide hydrolase

Associated data

  • GENBANK/AB534185
  • GENBANK/AB534186
  • GENBANK/AB534187
  • GENBANK/AB534188
  • GENBANK/AB534189