Sb. Ramaswamy et al., EVIDENCE FOR THE PRESENCE OF A PHEROMONOTROPIC FACTOR IN HEMOLYMPH AND REGULATION OF SEX-PHEROMONE PRODUCTION IN HELICOVERPA-ZEA, Journal of insect physiology, 41(6), 1995, pp. 501-508
In intact animal assays, 2-day-old females of Helicoverpa tea injected
with 2 pmol synthetic H. tea-pheromone biosynthesis activating neurop
eptide (Hez-PBAN) exhibited significant stimulation of pheromone produ
ction, In contrast, octopamine did not stimulate pheromone production
when injected 30 min before lights off, Additionally, females injected
with PBAN and mianserin (an octopamine antagonist) or reserpine, prod
uced significant amounts of pheromone. These results suggest that octo
pamine may not be involved in regulation of pheromone production in H.
tea. In abdomen incubation assays, synthetic Hez-PBAN stimulated pher
omone production at doses as low as 10 fmol. Additionally, one female
equivalent of hemolymph or serum from scotophase females exhibited phe
romonotropic activity that was comparable to activity elicited by 10 f
mol synthetic Hez-PBAN. High pressure liquid chromatographic (HPLC) fr
actionation of scotophase H. tea hemolymph serum filtrates, obtained a
fter filtration through molecular weight filters, suggested the presen
ce of a pheromonotropic fraction with molecular weight that appears to
be less than 3000.