ArticlePLoS genetics2016
Steroid Hormone Signaling Is Essential for Pheromone Production and Oenocyte Survival.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers.
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Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 67 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Common Regulatory Architecture Shapes Queen Chemical Signals Across Multiple Exocrine Sites.Journal of chemical ecology · 2026Article
- Transcriptional Control of Lipid Metabolism.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Insect Sterols and Steroids.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Insect Lipidomics: Advances, Applications, and Physiological Insights.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Regulatory changes in the fatty acid elongase eloF underlie the evolution of sex-specific pheromone profiles in Drosophila prolongata.BMC biology · 2025Article
- Cuticular hydrocarbons promote desiccation resistance by preventing transpiration in Drosophila melanogaster.The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Article
- Genetic characterization of candidate ecdysteroid kinases in Drosophila melanogaster.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2024Article
- Regulatory Changes in the Fatty Acid ElongasebioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- A fatty acid anabolic pathway in specialized-cells sustains a remote signal that controls egg activation in Drosophila.PLoS genetics · 2024Article
- Bacterial and fungal components of the microbiome have distinct roles in HawaiianISME communications · 2024Article
- Insulin-like peptide 8 (Ilp8) regulates female fecundity in flies.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2023Article
- Desiccation resistance differences ineLife · 2022Article
- Isolation disrupts social interactions and destabilizes brain development in bumblebees.Current biology : CB · 2022Article
- A tandem duplication in Drosophila melanogaster shows enhanced expression beyond the gene copy number.Genetics · 2022Article
- Roles of Insect Oenocytes in Physiology and Their Relevance to Human Metabolic Diseases.Frontiers in insect science · 2022Review
- Modulation of fatty acid elongation in cockroaches sustains sexually dimorphic hydrocarbons and female attractiveness.PLoS biology · 2021Article
- Candidate genes involved in cuticular hydrocarbon differentiation between cryptic, parabiotic ant species.G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2021Article
- Physiological characterization of chitin synthase A responsible for the biosynthesis of cuticle chitin in Culex pipiens pallens (Diptera: Culicidae).Parasites & vectors · 2021Article
- Post-eclosion temperature effects on insect cuticular hydrocarbon profiles.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Interactions with ectoparasitic mites induce host metabolic and immune responses in flies at the expense of reproduction-associated factors.Parasitology · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Many of the lipids found on the cuticles of insects function as pheromones and communicate information about age, sex, and reproductive status. In Drosophila, the composition of the information-rich lipid profile is dynamic and changes over the lifetime of an individual. However, the molecular basis of this change is not well understood. To identify genes that control cuticular lipid production in Drosophila, we performed a RNA interference screen and used Direct Analysis in Real Time and gas chromatography mass spectrometry to quantify changes in the chemical profiles. Twelve putative genes were identified whereby transcriptional silencing led to significant differences in cuticular lipid production. Amongst them, we characterized a gene which we name spidey, and which encodes a putative steroid dehydrogenase that has sex- and age-dependent effects on viability, pheromone production, and oenocyte survival. Transcriptional silencing or overexpression of spidey during embryonic development results in pupal lethality and significant changes in levels of the ecdysone metabolite 20-hydroxyecdysonic acid and 20-hydroxyecdysone. In contrast, inhibiting gene expression only during adulthood resulted in a striking loss of oenocyte cells and a concomitant reduction of cuticular hydrocarbons, desiccation resistance, and lifespan. Oenocyte loss and cuticular lipid levels were partially rescued by 20-hydroxyecdysone supplementation. Taken together, these results identify a novel regulator of pheromone synthesis and reveal that ecdysteroid signaling is essential for the maintenance of cuticular lipids and oenocytes throughout adulthood.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.