Identification of plant compounds that disrupt the insect juvenile hormone receptor complex

Juvenile hormone (JH) plays key roles in insect development, reproduction, and many other physiological functions. Because JH is specific to insects, it has been investigated for use as pest control. Although compounds that mimic the action of JH (JH analogues/agonists) are efficient, they have a limited scope of application. Development of potent compounds counteracting JH action (JH antagonists) would find a wider range of control applications. However, thus far, such JH antagonists have not been developed. Here, we report on the discovery of potent JH antagonists in plants, which represents an innate resistance mechanism of plants against insect herbivores. These newly discovered plant JH antagonist compounds could be used as the starting material for developing novel insecticides.