The structure of the juvenile hormone binding protein gene from Galleria mellonella
AbstractJuvenile hormone (JH) and ecdysone are the key hormones controlling insect growth and development. The juvenile hormone binding protein (JHBP) is the first member in the array of proteins participating in JH signal transmission. In the present report a wholejhbpgene sequence (9790 bp) is described. Thejhbpgene contains four introns (A–D). All the introns have common flanking sequences: GT at the 5′ and AG at the 3′ end. The first intron is in phase 1, the second in phase 2, and the third and fourth in phase 1. An analysis of these sequences suggests that U2-class spliceosomes are involved in intron excision from pre-mRNA. Several horizontally transmitted elements from other genes were found in the introns. Alljhbpexons are positioned in local AT-reach regions of the gene. A search for core promoter regulatory elements revealed that the TATA box starts 29 bp preceding the start of transcription; the sequence TCAGTA representing a putative initiator sequence (Inr) starts at position +14. Eight characteristic sequences for bindingBroad-Complexgene products, which coordinate the ecdysone temporal response, are present in the non-coding sequence of thejhbpgene. An analysis of exon locations and intron phases indicates thatjhbpgene organization is related to theretinol binding proteingene, a member of the lipocalin family.