Insect juvenile hormone action as a potential target of pest management

Juvenile hormone (JH) is a sesquiterpenoid hormone that regulates growth and development in insects. Since JH is a hormone specific to insects and other arthropods, compounds disrupting JH action in insects are expected to be ideal insecticides with low toxicity to non-target organisms. Many natural or synthetic analogs with JH-like or anti-JH activity have been identified, and some potent JH mimics have been used as insecticides. Recent studies on the enzymes in JH biosynthetic and metabolic pathways should be helpful for the discovery of more potent analogs and for the establishment of new means of pest management using recombinant DNA technology.