The structure of the juvenile hormone binding protein gene from Galleria mellonella

Juvenile 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 whole jhbp gene sequence (9790 bp) is described. The jhbp gene 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. All jhbp exons 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 binding Broad-Complex gene products, which coordinate the ecdysone temporal response, are present in the non-coding sequence of the jhbp gene. An analysis of exon locations and intron phases indicates that jhbp gene organization is related to the retinol binding protein gene, a member of the lipocalin family.