Template:Short description Template:Chembox Ecdysone is aTemplate:Clarify prohormone of the major insect molting hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone, secreted from the prothoracic glands. It is of steroidal structure. Insect molting hormones (ecdysone and its homologues) are generally called ecdysteroids. Ecdysteroids act as moulting hormones of arthropods but also occur in other related phyla where they can play different roles.<ref name="Hoffmeister">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Karlson, P; Hoffmeister, H (March, 1963). On the biogenesis of ecdyson. I. Conversion of cholesterol into ecdyson. Hoppe Seylers Z Physiol Chem., 331, 289–300. In German. PMID 1396254</ref> In Drosophila melanogaster, an increase in ecdysone concentration induces the expression of genes coding for proteins that the larva requires. It causes chromosome puffs (sites of high expression) to form in polytene chromosomes. Recent findings in the laboratory of Chris Q. Doe have found a novel role of this hormone in regulating temporal gene transitions within neural stem cells of the fruit fly.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Ecdysone and other ecdysteroids also appear in many plants mostly as a protection agent (toxins or antifeedants) against herbivorous insects.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> These phytoecdysteroids have been reputed to have medicinal value. They are part of herbal adaptogenic remedies like Cordyceps, yet an ecdysteroid precursor in plants has been shown to have cytotoxic properties<ref>Wang YS, Yang JH, Luo SD, Zhang HB, Li L, New Cytotoxic Steroid from Stachyurus himalaicus var. himalaicus. Molecules. 2007;12(3):536-42</ref> as well as antioxidant properties on lipid peroxidation.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Tebufenozide, sold under the Bayer trademark MIMIC,<ref>apvma.gov.au: "Tebufenozide in the product Mimic 700 WP Insecticide, Mimic 240 SC Insecticide"</ref> has ecdysteroid activity although its chemical structure has little resemblance to the ecdysteroids.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
See alsoEdit
- Ecdysone receptor
- PTTH - Metamorphosis Initiator hormone
ReferencesEdit
<references/>
External linksEdit
- Ecdybase, The Ecdysone Handbook - a free online ecdysteroids database