During the larval development process of insects, juvenile hormone (JH) is essential for regulating various aspects of larval life, including growth, reproduction, and behavior, throughout their larval stage. The larval stage of Spodoptera frugiperda, when it consumes plant-derived metabolites, develops into pupae, but these pupae are unable to molt successfully. In this way, plant-derived metabolites contain or produce inhibitors of juvenile hormone, thereby disrupting the development of insect larvae and making them vulnerable to harm. Therefore, in this study, we established an in vitro screening system using yeast cells transformed with the Met-SRC juvenile hormone receptor of S. frugiperda. Through this system, we were able to identify juvenile hormone disruptors from plant-derived metabolites and confirm their developmental inhibitory effects on the larvae of S. frugiperda.

Plant essential oils have been reported to show repellent, insecticidal and growth-reducing effect on many insect herbivores. Recently, it has been reported that plants synthesize secondary metabolites regulating insect juvenile hormone (JH) receptor complex as a part of their defense mechanisms. We tested 180 plant essential oil compounds using a yeast two-hybrid system transformed with the Aedes aegypti JH receptor as a reporter system. Among them, we identified 17 compounds that showing high JH agonist (JHA) or antagonist (JHAN) activities. They were grouped into 4 groups by their structural similarity and their insecticidal activity was tested against larvae of Aedes albopictus, Plutella xylostella, Plodia interpunctella and Laodelphax striatellus. These results could provide insights on the plant-insect coevolution and may be useful for the development of insect specific and safe pesticides.

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.

Insect growth regulators (IGRs) are compounds that induce developmental anomalies such as premature molting or supernumerary larval stages. IGRs can be divided into 3 groups based on their mode of action, one of which is known as the juvenile hormone agonists (JHAs). Previously, we have developed a novel screening method which can identify juvenile hormone antagonists (JHANs) using a yeast-two hybrid system incorporating Aedes aegypti juvenile hormone receptor complex proteins (MET and FISC). It has been reported that plants may use IGRs in their defenses against insect herbivores. In this study, 171 plant essential oil samples were screened using the yeast-two hybrid system in order to identify JHAs and/or JHANs. Eight out of 171 samples, 4 JHA and 4 JHAN candidates, were selected and their insecticidal activities were investigated against A. aegypti larvae. They showed high levels of insecticidal activities, with LC50 values ranging from 11.2~21.4 ug/ml. These results indicate that plants do use JHAs and/or JHANs as a part of their defenses against insect herbivores. Also, JHAs and JHANs identified in this study could be exploited as effective biological control agents.

Insects impact human health through vector-borne diseases and cause major economic loses through damaging crops and stored agricultural products. Insect-specific growth regulators (IGR) represent attractive control agents because of their safety to the environment and humans. Here, we report identification of plant compounds that are antagonists of the insect-specific juvenile hormone (PJHANs), using the yeast two hybrid system transformed with the mosquito JH receptor as a reporter assay. We show that these compounds act by inhibiting larval growth and reproduction in mosquitoes. We also demonstrate that PJHANs affect the JH receptor, Methoprene-tolerant (Met), by disrupting its complex with CYCLE, formation of which is required for mediating JH action. We isolated five diterpene secondary metabolites with JH antagonist activity from two plants, Lindera erythrocarpa and Solidago serotina. They are effective in causing mortality of mosquito larvae at relatively low LD50 values. Two of these diterprenes affect Met function, leading to reduction in expression of Met target genes and causing retardation of follicle development in mosquito ovaries. Developing potent compounds counteracting JHaction (JH antagonists) would find a wider range of control applications. However, so far such JH antagonists have not been developed. Here, we report the discovery of potent JH antagonists in plants, which represents an innate resistance mechanism of plants against insect herbivores. These newly discovered plant JH antagonist compounds could be used as the starting material for developing novel insecticides.

식물 홀몬의 면역적 분석은 무엇보다 분석전 복잡한 정제가 필요치 않고 정밀분석을 신속히 할 수 있다는데 그 장점이 있다. 다만 pAb를 이용하는 경우에 특이성이 다소 문제로 대두되고 있으나 mAb를 생산함으로써 크게 개량할 수 있었다. 물론 GA류에 있어서는 극히 유사한 구조를 가진것 끼리의 면역분석은 잘되지 않는 것처럼 받아들여지고 있으나 이 문제도 epitope를 달리 함으로써 어느 정도 해결 팔 수 있으며, 이경우 HPLC로 정제후 mAb-ELISA를 이용하여 검출하면 훨씬 정확한 분리와 분석이 가능 할 것으로 생각된다. 본 연구자 등은 mAb를 이용한 식물 홀몬 분석에 있어서 시료를 추출, 정제후 실제 ELISA에 의해서 정량분석에 소요되는 시간은 2시간 미만정도밖에 걸리지 않는다. 또한 검출 한계도 pmol～fmol 정도로 정밀분석이 가능하다. 그리고 소요되는 장비는 간단한 spectrophometer만 가지면 된다. 다만 mAb를 생산하는 과정이 복잡하고 시간이 오래 걸린다. 따라서 필요로 하는 항체를 구입해서 (ABA artiserum sigma) 사용하는 것이 오히려 편리 할 것이다. 본 연구자 둥은 mAb를 이용한 식물 홀몬정량분석용 면역킷트를 제조하였다. 상기와 같은 여러가지 결과들은 식물 홀몬의 분석에 면역측정법이 편리하게 이용될 수 있음을 시사하고 생각된다.

In spite of the development of highly sophisticated instrument, the precise quantitation of plant hormones still has many difficulties. Due to their high specificity, sensitivity and minimal sample purification steps, immunological assays have been widely applied for plant hormone assay. Enzme-linked immunosorbent assay technique for the determination of plant hormones was developed by Voller in 1978. Immunological assays are accomplished by competition of labeled tracer antigen and unlabeled antigen for a limited number of specific antibodies. The use of enzyme as replacement labels for radioisotopes enabled much of the sensitivity and specificity of radioimmunoassay (RIA) to be retained but without the inherent disadvantage of high capital cost, potential health hazard, and short shelf life of the labeled reactants.

Ethylene gas classified as one of five major plant hormones plays an important role in various plant metabolism. The precise analysis of ethylene production of plants or plant parts is a valuable research procedure because knowledge of ethylene production facilitates measures of the physiological activity within the tissue. This paper describes procedures for analyzing ethylene from plant tissues by gas chromatography and discusses problems associated with extracting gas samples either by introducing a vacuum to plant samples or by using a hypodermic syringe. Introduced are a continuous flow system for efficient analysis and an automated system for sampling, analyzing, calculating and recording ethylene production data.

The analytic principles of GC and MS were explained in relation to plant hormone analyses and the characteristics of two instruments were compared. The selection of column, condition of measurement and the method of ionization to get a good spectrum were also briefly described. Finally, the pre-treatment of sample by solvent extraction method to remove the unnecessary part of sample and the synthetic method, especially reagents and reaction condition, for the preparation of ether or ester derivative which can be easily vaporized in GC were explained.

A bioassay is a test system using a living organism (in whole or in part) to determine the presence or relative potency of chemical substances. The development and uses of bioassay are intimately linked to the discovery and characterization of the major classes of plant hormones. An application of this relationship is helpful for understanding the concept of plant hormones as well as the use of bioassay. And plant bioassay have been development and employed not only for the discovery and characterization of the biological activity of plant growth regulators but also have served several important secondary roles. The ideal bioassay should possess the characteristic of high specificity. great sensitivity. short response time, low cost and ease of obtaining plant material. acceptable ease of manipulation, and minimal space and equipment requirements.