Ecdysone Receptor (EcR) Is Involved in the Transcription of Cell Cycle Genes in the Silkworm

EcR (ecdysone receptor)-mediated ecdysone signaling pathway contributes to regulate the transcription of genes involved in various processes during insect development. In this work, we detected the expression of EcR gene in silkworm ovary-derived BmN4 cells and found that EcR RNAi result in an alteration of cell shape, indicating that EcR may orchestrate cell cycle progression. EcR RNAi and EcR overexpression analysis revealed that in the cultured BmN4 cells, EcR respectively promoted and suppressed the transcription of E2F-1 and CycE, two genes controlling cell cycle progression. Further examination demonstrated that ecdysone application in BmN4 cells not only changed the transcription of these two cell cycle genes like that under EcR overexpression, but also induced cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase. In vivo analysis confirmed that E2F-1 expression was elevated in silk gland of silkworm larvae after ecdysone application, which is same as its response to ecdysone in BmN4 cells. However, ecdysone also promotes CycE transcription in silk gland, and this is converse with the observation in BmN4 cells. These results provide new insights into understanding the roles of EcR-mediated ecdysone signaling in the regulation of cell cycle.