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Combinative stimulation inactivates sex pheromone production in the silkworm moth, Bombyx mori
Author(s) -
Karube Fuyuki,
Kobayashi Masahiko
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
archives of insect biochemistry and physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.576
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1520-6327
pISSN - 0739-4462
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1520-6327(199910)42:2<111::aid-arch1>3.0.co;2-n
Subject(s) - spermatophore , biology , mating , bombyx mori , pheromone , penis , anatomy , spermatheca , bombycidae , sex pheromone , stimulation , sperm , zoology , endocrinology , botany , genetics , gene
Mating results in a strong suppression of sex pheromone (bombykol) production in the female silkworm moth, Bombyx mori . The mechanical stimulation from the insertion of a penis, inflation of the bursa copulatrix (BC), or copulation with the sterile male whose penis was removed in order to prevent ejaculation (pr‐male) induced only a partial decline in bombykol production. Artificial insemination stimulates oviposition of fertilized eggs as does normal mating. However, bombykol production did not decline in artificially inseminated females. When females were artificially inseminated before or after mating with pr‐males, some females had a small amount of bombykol, similar to females mated with normal males, while other females had a large amount of bombykol similar to virgin females. The former usually laid fertilized eggs, while the latter laid only unfertilized eggs though semen filled their spermatophores and spermathecae. The mechanical stimulation caused by mating with a pr‐male could be replaced by covering the abdominal tip with melted paraffin. Neither implantation of the BC obtained from mated females, nor injection of the spermatophore extract, into a female mated with a pr‐male could inactivate bombykol production. Injection of hemolymph from a mated female into a virgin also failed to affect bombykol production These results indicate that a combination of both the tactile stimulation of the abdominal tip and the arrival of fertile spermatozoa in the vestibulum trigger a neural inactivation mechanism of bombykol production after mating. Arch. Insect Biochem. Physiol. 42:111–118, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.