Figure - available from: Journal of Chemical Ecology
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Mean residual surface amount of (Z)-11-hexadecenal (Z11–16:Ald) on the pheromone gland of decapitated female Chloridea virescens after a 15 min stream of air (from a 0.53 mm diam. capillary) of different velocities was directed at the ventral side. SEM are given. The curve is a biexponential fit of data (see text)
Source publication
To attract a mate, females of most moth species synthesize and emit sex pheromone from a specific gland in a behavior termed “calling”. In a broad temporal sense, calling behavior and pheromone synthesis are synchronized through the overlap of their circadian rhythms. However, the limited amount of pheromone a female produces each day must be manag...
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Citations
Many species of moths have a common control mechanism for synthesizing sex pheromone: the circadian release of pheromone biosynthesis-activation neuropeptide (PBAN) that switches pheromone synthesis on/off during the day. One apparent exception to this is the noctuid moth Trichoplusia ni (Hübner), in which pheromone synthesis appears continuous through the photoperiod, with circadian release of PBAN controlling emission rate of pheromone during calling. Sex pheromone biosynthesis was reinvestigated in T. ni using stable isotope tracer-tracee and gland sampling techniques to ascertain how pheromone quantities in gland cells and on the gland cuticular surface varied and were controlled. It was found that (i) carbohydrate from adult female feeding is used to synthesize sex pheromone, (ii) most of the stored acetate ester pheromone component(s) is contained in gland cells, (iii) a large pool of pheromone is synthesized and stored through the photoperiod with a slow turnover rate, (iv) although pheromone is synthesized throughout the photoperiod, its rate can vary, influenced by release of PBAN and possibly by an unidentified head factor, with both affecting carbohydrate uptake into the acetyl CoA pheromone precursor pool, and (v) as suggested previously, PBAN also influences translocation of pheromone out of the cell to the cuticular surface, possibly by causing breakdown of intracellular lipid droplets storing pheromone molecules. This work suggests that the quantitative synthesis and emission of pheromone in T. ni, and possibly other moths, is regulated by multiple complementary biochemical mechanisms.
