Juvenile hormone and allatostatins in the German cockroach embryo

Levels of juvenile hormone III (JH), FGLamide allatostatin peptides (ASTs), ASTs precursor (preproAST) mRNA and methyl farnesoate epoxidase (CYP15A1) mRNA were measured in embryos of the cockroach Blattella germanica. JH starts to rise just after dorsal closure, reaches maximal levels between 60% and 80% of embryogenesis, and decrease subsequently to undetectable levels. ASTs show low levels during the first two thirds of embryogenesis, increase thereafter and maintain high levels until hatching. PreproAST mRNA shows quite high levels during the two days following oviposition, thus behaving as a maternal transcript, the levels then become very low until mid embryogenesis, and increase afterwards, peaking towards the end of embryo development. CYP15A1 transcripts were detected around 25% embryogenesis and the levels tended to increase through embryogenesis, although differences amongst the days studied were not statistically significant. The opposite patterns of JH and AST towards the end of embryo development, along with the detection of AST immunoreactivity in corpora allata from late embryos, suggest that JH decline is caused by the increase of AST. Moreover, the uncorrelated patterns of JH concentration and CYP15A1 mRNA levels suggest that CYP15A1 expression does not modulate JH production.