Steroid hormones are responsible for the coordinated regulation of many aspects of biological processes in multicellular organisms. Since the last century, many studies have identified and characterized steroidogenic enzymes in vertebrates, including mammals. However, much less is known about invertebrate steroidogenic enzymes. In the last 15 years, a number of steroidogenic enzymes and their functions have been characterized in ecdysozoan animals, especially in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. In this review, we summarize the latest knowledge of enzymes crucial for synthesizing ecdysteroids, the principal insect steroid hormones. We also discuss the functional conservation and diversity of ecdysteroidogenic enzymes in other insects and even non-insect species, such as nematodes, vertebrates, and lower eukaryotes.

The developmental transition from juvenile to adult is often accompanied by many systemic changes in morphology, metabolism, and reproduction. Curiously, both mammalian puberty and insect metamorphosis are triggered by a pulse of steroid hormones, which can harmonize gene expression profiles in the body and thus orchestrate drastic biological changes. However, understanding of how the timing of steroid hormone biosynthesis is regulated at the molecular level is poor. The principal insect steroid hormone, ecdysteroid, is biosynthesized from dietary cholesterol in the specialized endocrine organ called the prothoracic gland. The periodic pulses of ecdysteroid titers determine the timing of molting and metamorphosis. To date, at least nine families of ecdysteroidogenic enzyme genes have been identified. Expression levels of these genes correlate well with ecdysteroid titers, indicating that the transcriptional regulatory network plays a critical role in regulating the ecdysteroid biosynthesis pathway. In this article, we summarize the transcriptional regulation of ecdysteroid biosynthesis. We first describe the development of prothoracic gland cells during Drosophila embryogenesis, and then provide an overview of the transcription factors that act in ecdysteroid biosynthesis and signaling. We also discuss the external signaling pathways that target these transcriptional regulators. Furthermore, we describe conserved and/or diverse aspects of steroid hormone biosynthesis in insect species as well as vertebrates.

Cholesterol has long been recognized for its versatile roles in influencing the biophysical properties of cell membranes and for serving as a precursor of steroid hormones. While many aspects of cholesterol biosynthesis are well understood, little is currently known about the molecular mechanisms of cholesterol metabolism and homeostasis. Recently, genetic approaches in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, have been successfully used for the analysis of molecular mechanisms that regulate cholesterol metabolism and homeostasis. This paper summarizes the recent studies on genes that regulate cholesterol metabolism and homeostasis, including neverland, Niemann Pick type C(NPC) disease genes, and DHR96.

The insect steroid hormone ecdysteroid plays pivotal roles in the temporal coordination of development, represented by molting and metamorphosis. During the larval stages, ecdysteroid is biosynthesized from dietary cholesterol by several ecdysteroidogenic enzymes in the specialized endocrine organ called the prothoracic gland (PG). As ecdysteroid biosynthesis in the PG is affected by several environmental cues, such as photoperiod and nutrition, a fundamental question is how the ecdysteroid biosynthesis pathway is controlled in response to environmental cues. In this review, we briefly summarize recent topics on the regulatory mechanisms of ecdysteroid biosynthesis, especially the neuronal regulatory mechanism, in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The implications from studies with other insects are also discussed.

Transcription factors generally regulate gene expression of multiple targets. In contrast, our recent finding suggests that the zinc finger protein Ouija board controls steroid hormone biosynthesis through specific regulation of only one gene spookier in Drosophila. It sheds light on a specialized but essential factor that evolved for one target.