{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T19:13:52Z","timestamp":1791227632116,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,6]],"date-time":"2025-01-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1736121600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["31960562"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["31960562"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["32460711"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32460711"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Insects"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study focuses on the regulatory effects of genes encoding the juvenile hormone (JH) receptor methoprene-tolerant (Met) and transcription factor kr\u00fcppel homolog 1 (Kr-h1) on the reproductive capacity of Coccinella septempunctata male adults. Met and Kr-h1 expression levels were analyzed in males fed on artificial diets with and without JH by quantitative real-time PCR, and the effects of Met and Kr-h1 on male reproduction were analyzed by RNA interference technology. Met transcription levels in 5- and 10-day-old males fed with a JH-supplemented diet were lower than those without JH. Kr-h1 expression in 5-day-old adult males was lower in diets lacking JH but was higher in 10-day-old males fed on a diet lacking JH. There were no significant differences in the testes sizes of male ladybugs injected with Met-dsRNA when compared to GFP-dsRNA; however, the testis volume of ladybugs injected with Kr-h1-dsRNA was smaller than those injected with GFP-dsRNA. After males were injected with Met-dsRNA and Kr-h1-dsRNA, the mean egg production by females decreased by 12.75% and 23.10%, respectively, at 20 d postinjection. Our results show that Met and Kr-h1 have important roles in regulating reproduction by directly affecting testes development in males and egg production in females.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/insects16010049","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,6]],"date-time":"2025-01-06T09:17:02Z","timestamp":1736155022000},"page":"49","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Functional Analysis of Genes Encoding Juvenile Hormone Receptor Met and Transcription Factor Kr-h1 in the Reproductive Capacity of Coccinella septempunctata Males"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Ying","family":"Cheng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Guizhou Institute of Plant Protection, Guiyang 550006, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yuhang","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guizhou Institute of Plant Protection, Guiyang 550006, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cao","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guizhou Provincial Pollution-Free Engineering Center of Plant Protection, Guiyang 550006, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2015","DOI":"10.1242\/dev.033712","article-title":"Juvenile hormone counteracts the bHLH-PAS transcription factors MET and GCE to prevent caspase-dependent programmed cell death in Drosophila","volume":"136","author":"Liu","year":"2009","journal-title":"Development"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cois.2018.07.010","article-title":"Juvenile hormone signaling in insect oogenesis","volume":"31","author":"Santos","year":"2019","journal-title":"Curr. 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