Scientists from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine of Barcelona have shown that Chinmo is a gene for youth in insects, responsible for the juvenile stage, and is also an oncogenic factor in humans. This is reported in an article published in eLife magazine.

Insects that undergo complete metamorphosis, such as flies, go through three stages: the embryo inside the egg, the larva (juvenile stage), and the pupa when the transformation into an adult insect occurs. It was shown that the Br-C gene determines the formation of pupae, and the E93 gene is required for the completion of metamorphosis and the maturation of tissues from which adults are formed. However, the gene for the juvenile stage has not yet been known.

The researchers removed the Chinmo gene from Drosophila individuals and found that the mutant insects progressed to the pupal stage without completing the juvenile stage. Normally, the larva goes through several phases of growth. Chinmo promotes tissue growth in the juvenile stage of Drosophila by keeping cells undifferentiated. As long as Chinmo is expressed, cells cannot differentiate because the gene suppresses the action of genes responsible for the formation of adult tissues.

Thus, the Chinmo gene must be inactivated in order for Drosophila to move from the juvenile stage to the pupal stage and successfully undergo metamorphosis. Chinmo and Br-C belong to the large family of BTB-ZF transcription factors, proteins involved in cancer development and also found in humans. Although previous studies have shown that Chinmo is a cancer precursor, the role of Br-C and E93 in this disease has not been studied.

The study showed that while Chinmo promotes tissue growth and prevents cell differentiation, which is characteristic of cancer, C-Br and E93 act as tumor suppressors by activating tissue maturation.