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6 October 2022 Insect Gap Junctions Could Be a Potential Target for Pest Management
Prem Chand Sharma, Nitika Negi, Himanshu Thakur, Jabez Raju Battu, Matthew Turnbull
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Abstract

Gap junctions are integral membrane proteins that play a role in cell-to-cell communication. They are coded by the functional genes called connexins in chordates and innexins in invertebrates. However, recently pannexins were also found in mammalian genomes, which are homologous to insect innexins. Gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC) has different functions ranging from their role in ontogenesis to the transfer of intracellular signal molecules and minimizing the adverse effects of xenobiotics by dilution and steady-state catabolism. Perturbations of these gap junctions are known to promote cancers besides, and many tumor inducers reduce the functioning of these gap junctions. Insect gap junctions play a crucial role in the development of insects and perhaps might be one of the reasons for the success of insects on terrestrial habitats. Majority of the work on innexins was done on Drosophila melanogaster Meigen, 1830 (Diptera: Drosophilidae), and its innexins regulate size of the central nervous system, embryonic gut formation, metamorphosis, and the fertility of germ lines in the reproductive system. There are several insecticides like cyclodienes, organochlorines, phenypyrazoles, synthetic pyrethroids, avermectins, milbemycins, oxadiazines, semicarbazones, metadiamides, isoxazolines which target ion channels in the insects, but there is no evidence that supports the possible toxic effects of insecticides on insect gap junctions. In this review, we discuss the importance of insect gap junctions and how they could be a potential target for chemical pest management.

© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Prem Chand Sharma, Nitika Negi, Himanshu Thakur, Jabez Raju Battu, and Matthew Turnbull "Insect Gap Junctions Could Be a Potential Target for Pest Management," Annals of the Entomological Society of America 115(6), 449-460, (6 October 2022). https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/saac021
Received: 30 May 2022; Accepted: 14 September 2022; Published: 6 October 2022
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KEYWORDS
cancer
connexin
Drosophila melanogaster
gap junction
innexin
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