Genome-Wide Identification and Analysis of Family Members with Juvenile Hormone Binding Protein Domains in Spodoptera frugiperda

Abstract

Juvenile hormone binding proteins (JHBPs) are carrier proteins that bind to juvenile hormone (JH) to form a complex, which then transports the JH to target organs to regulate insect growth and development. Through bioinformatics analysis, 76 genes encoding JHBP in S. frugiperda were identified from whole genome data (SfJHBP1-SfJHBP76). These genes are unevenly distributed across 8 chromosomes, with gene differentiation primarily driven by tandem duplication. Most SfJHBP proteins are acidic, and their secondary structures are mainly composed of α-helices and random coils. Gene structure and conserved motif analyses reveal significant variations in the number of coding sequences (CDS) and a high diversity in amino acid sequences. Phylogenetic analysis classified the genes into four subfamilies, with a notable presence of directly homologous genes between S. frugiperda and S. litura, suggesting a close relationship between the two species. RNA-seq data from public databases and qPCR of selected SfJHBP genes show that SfJHBP20, SfJHBP50, and SfJHBP69 are highly expressed at most developmental stages, while SfJHBP8 and SfJHBP14 exhibit specific expression during the pupal stage and in the midgut. These findings provide a theoretical basis for future studies on the biological functions of this gene family.