India is a global agricultural powerhouse. Agriculture, with its allied sectors, is the largest livelihood provider in India and plays a vital role in India’s economy. Lepidopteran species are the most threatening pests of major annual and perennial crops, forests, and stored products throughout the world. The larvae of many lepidopteran species like Manduca sexta, Heliothis virescens, Spodoptera exigua, Helicoverpa armigera and Tricoplusia ni have become major problem to many food and commercial crops. On this agricultural facade, the main aim should be the control of insect pest population, rather than their eradication, which is neither possible nor ecologically desirable. Juvenile hormone (JH) a key regulator is primarily metabolized by two hydrolytic enzymes namely Juvenile Hormone Esterase (JHE) and Juvenile Hormone Epoxide Hydrolase (JHEH). Hydration of epoxide moiety of JH by JHEH is very crucial in JH metabolism in insects because of its irreversible reaction with JH. Many studies indicated that blocking JH metabolic pathway can result in immediate death or other severe consequences in early instars of insect pest control. Henceforth, the present study is focused on the analysis of putative functions of JHEH across the five serious lepidopteran pests. The functional features, Domains of JHEH protein sequences are identified by HMMR and Batch CDD searcher. The protein family identification and important sites in JHEH protein sequence are interpreted. Gene Ontologies of the sequences are predicted. The pathway in which JHEH is involved has been studied. Protein - protein interactions of the JHEH homologous sequences with reference to Bombyx mori are analyzed. The understanding of the functional imminent of JHEHs will divulge more alleyways for the biological lepidopteran pest control in deriving advanced molecular strategies.
