The result of the experiments will be new and original data on the mechanisms of action of juvenile hormone (JH) suppress gene expression. The use of a protein which becomes highly expressed during metamorphosis as the model for study ensures that the findings will further our understanding of, and ability to disrupt, a fundamental and developmentally critical point of regulation of insect development. The occurrence and importance of JH in a wide range of invertebrate groups ensures that the results will have wide significance and applicability towards invertebrates. It is also probable that the results of such studies on juvenile hormone will have important implications for studies on the action of retinoic acid in regulation of vertebrate gene expression.
