Juvenile Hormone Activates the Transcription of Cell-division-cycle 6 (Cdc6) for Polyploidy-dependent Insect Vitellogenesis and Oogenesis

Although juvenile hormone (JH) is known to prevent insect larval metamorphosis and stimulate adult reproduction, the molecular mechanisms of JH action in insect reproduction remain largely unknown. Earlier, we reported that the JH-receptor complex, composed of methoprene-tolerant and steroid receptor co-activator, acts on mini-chromosome maintenance (Mcm) genes Mcm4 and Mcm7 to promote DNA replication and polyploidy for the massive vitellogenin (Vg) synthesis required for egg production in the migratory locust (Guo, W., Wu, Z., Song, J., Jiang, F., Wang, Z., Deng, S., Walker, V. K., and Zhou, S. (2014) PLoS Genet. 10, e1004702). In this study we have investigated the involvement of cell-division-cycle 6 (Cdc6) in JH-dependent vitellogenesis and oogenesis, as Cdc6 is essential for the formation of prereplication complex. We demonstrate here that Cdc6 is expressed in response to JH and methoprene-tolerant, and Cdc6 transcription is directly regulated by the JH-receptor complex. Knockdown of Cdc6 inhibits polyploidization of fat body and follicle cells, resulting in the substantial reduction of Vg expression in the fat body as well as severely impaired oocyte maturation and ovarian growth. Our data indicate the involvement of Cdc6 in JH pathway and a pivotal role of Cdc6 in JH-mediated polyploidization, vitellogenesis, and oogenesis.