{"doi":"10.1111/1744-7917.13291","title":"Juvenile hormone induces reproduction via miR‐1175‐3p in the red imported fire ant, <i>Solenopsis invicta</i>","abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Juvenile hormone (JH) acts in the regulation of caste differentiation between queens and workers (i.e., with or without reproductive capacity) during vitellin synthesis and oogenesis in social insects. However, the regulatory mechanisms have not yet been elucidated. Here, we identified a highly expressed microRNA (miRNA), miR‐1175‐3p, in the red imported fire ant, <jats:italic>Solenopsis invicta</jats:italic>. We found that miR‐1175‐3p is prominently present in the fat bodies and ovaries of workers. Furthermore, miR‐1175‐3p interacts with its target gene, <jats:italic>broad‐complex core</jats:italic> (<jats:italic>Br‐C</jats:italic>), in the fat bodies. By utilizing miR‐1175‐3p agomir, we successfully suppressed the expression of the Br‐C protein in queens, resulting in reduced vitellogenin expression, fewer eggs, and poorly developed ovaries. Conversely, decreasing miR‐1175‐3p levels led to the increased expression of Br‐C and vitellogenin in workers, triggering the “re‐development” of the ovaries. Moreover, when queens were fed with JH, the expression of miR‐1175‐3p decreased, whereas the expression of vitellogenin‐2 and vitellogenin‐3 increased. Notably, the suppression of fertility in queens caused by treatment with agomir miR‐1175‐3p was completely rescued by the increased vitellogenin expression induced by being fed with JH. These results suggest the critical role of miR‐1175‐3p in JH‐regulated reproduction, shedding light on the molecular mechanism underlying miRNA‐mediated fecundity in social insects and providing a novel strategy for managing <jats:italic>S. invicta</jats:italic>.</jats:p>","journal":"Insect Science","year":2024,"id":666687,"datarank":0.32958368660043297,"base_score":2.1972245773362196,"endowment":2.1972245773362196,"self_citation_contribution":0.32958368660043297,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.32958368660043297,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":8,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1741045,"name":"Ziying Guan","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1741046,"name":"Yunjie Ma","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1741047,"name":"Qingxing Shi","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":227601,"name":"Ting Chen","orcid":"0000-0003-1725-7956","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1741048,"name":"Muhammad Irfan Waris","orcid":"0000-0002-7157-4234","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":447843,"name":"Lihua Lyu","orcid":"0000-0002-4481-2882","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1741049,"name":"Yongyue Lu","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1741050,"name":"Guojun Qi","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1435278,"name":"Jie Chen","orcid":"0000-0001-7925-3729","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Juvenile hormone induces reproduction via miR‐1175‐3p in the red imported fire ant, <i>Solenopsis invicta</i>","abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Juvenile hormone (JH) acts in the regulation of caste differentiation between queens and workers (i.e., with or without reproductive capacity) during vitellin synthesis and oogenesis in social insects. However, the regulatory mechanisms have not yet been elucidated. Here, we identified a highly expressed microRNA (miRNA), miR‐1175‐3p, in the red imported fire ant, <jats:italic>Solenopsis invicta</jats:italic>. We found that miR‐1175‐3p is prominently present in the fat bodies and ovaries of workers. Furthermore, miR‐1175‐3p interacts with its target gene, <jats:italic>broad‐complex core</jats:italic> (<jats:italic>Br‐C</jats:italic>), in the fat bodies. By utilizing miR‐1175‐3p agomir, we successfully suppressed the expression of the Br‐C protein in queens, resulting in reduced vitellogenin expression, fewer eggs, and poorly developed ovaries. Conversely, decreasing miR‐1175‐3p levels led to the increased expression of Br‐C and vitellogenin in workers, triggering the “re‐development” of the ovaries. Moreover, when queens were fed with JH, the expression of miR‐1175‐3p decreased, whereas the expression of vitellogenin‐2 and vitellogenin‐3 increased. Notably, the suppression of fertility in queens caused by treatment with agomir miR‐1175‐3p was completely rescued by the increased vitellogenin expression induced by being fed with JH. These results suggest the critical role of miR‐1175‐3p in JH‐regulated reproduction, shedding light on the molecular mechanism underlying miRNA‐mediated fecundity in social insects and providing a novel strategy for managing <jats:italic>S. invicta</jats:italic>.</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":2.1972245773362196,"endowment":2.1972245773362196,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"37933419","pmcid":null,"openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W4388459712","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province","grant_id":"2023A1515012108","title":null},{"funder_name":"National Key R & D Program of China","grant_id":"2021YFD1000500","title":null},{"funder_name":"Foundation of Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences","grant_id":"R2023PY-JX010","title":null}],"total_grants":3,"fwci":1.7359,"citation_percentile":0.85947638,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2024,"count":2},{"year":2025,"count":6}],"oa_status":"closed","license":"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1744-7917.13291","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7917.13291","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37933419","host_type":"repository"}],"fields_of_study":["Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior","Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research","Animal Behavior and Reproduction"],"mesh_terms":["Fire Ants","Animals","Ants","Juvenile Hormones","Reproduction","Vitellogenins","MicroRNAs"],"keywords":["Vitellogenin","Juvenile hormone","Biology","Fire ant","Oogenesis","Fecundity","Reproduction","Hemolymph","Vitellogenesis","Zoology","Gene","microRNA","Gene expression","Internal medicine","Endocrinology","Cell biology","Andrology","Hormone","Hymenoptera","Ecology","Oocyte","Genetics","Red imported fire ant","Social Insects","Mir‐1175‐3p"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-13T15:11:50.133523Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}