Fig. 4.

Regulatory role of selective miRNAs in insect oogenesis. a let-7, miR-278, and miR-2/13a/13b/71 play pivotal role in JH-dependent oogenesis of panoistic Locusta migratoria. JH inhibits the expression of let-7 and miR-278 that repress Kr-h1 expression. The elevated JH titer and declined abundance of let-7 and miR-278 in adult female locusts ensure high levels of Kr-h1 required for successful oogenesis and egg production [88]. Similar regulatory loop was also observed with JH, miR-2/13a/13b/71 and Notch [122]. Moreover, miR-276 promotes locust egg development and hatching synchrony by upregulating brahma gene [64]. b miR-8, miR-275, miR-1174, miR-1890, and miR-277 are dispensable for 20E-dependent blood intake, blood digestion, lipid metabolism and vitellogenin secretion in vitellogenic adult females of meositic Aedes aegypti. Dysfunction of these miRNAs caused severely defective oogenesis and egg production [130–134]