Insect growth regulators (IGRs) are attractive pest control agents due to their high target specificity and relative safety to the environment. Recently, plants have been shown to synthesize IGRs that affect the insect juvenile hormone (JH) as a part of their defense mechanisms. We identified several JH agonists (JHAs) and antagonists (JHANs) from plant essential oil compounds using a yeast two-hybrid system transformed with the Aedes aegypti JH receptor as a reporter system. They showed high mosquitocidal activities with relatively low LC50 values and caused retardation of ovarian development in female mosquitoes. While the JHAs increased the expression of JH-induced gene, the JHANs caused reduction in the expression of the same gene. The compounds identified in this study could provide insights on the plant-insect interactions and may be useful for the development of novel IGR insecticides.

• Kyu baik Ha(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)
• Dong Hwan Park(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)
• Seok-Hee Lee(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)
• Jong Hoon Kim(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)
• Ying Fang(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)
• Min Gu Park(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)
• Ra Mi Woo(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)
• Woo Jin Kim(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)
• Il-Kwon Park(Department of Forest Science, Seoul National University)
• Jae Young Choi(Research Institute for Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University)
• Yeon Ho Je(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)