PlumX Metrics
Embed PlumX Metrics

Juvenile hormone acid methyltransferase activity in imaginal discs of Manduca sexta prepupae

Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology, ISSN: 1520-6327, Vol: 2, Issue: 2, Page: 191-202
1985
  • 54
    Citations
  • 0
    Usage
  • 9
    Captures
  • 0
    Mentions
  • 0
    Social Media
Metric Options:   Counts1 Year3 Year

Metrics Details

  • Citations
    54
    • Citation Indexes
      54
  • Captures
    9

Article Description

The occurrence of a peak of juvenile hormone (JH) during the prepupal period has been noted in several lepidopterans. In Manduca sexta and Hyalophora cecropia this peak is known to prevent the precocious onset of adult differentiation in imaginal tissues. However, it has previously been observed in our laboratory that corpora allata (CA) of this age are incapable of making JH owing to a lack of the terminal synthetic enzyme, juvenile hormone acid methyltransferase (JHAMT). Since the CA are required for normal pupation, it is likely that JH acid is the product released by the prepupal CA. Therefore, we analyzed whether JH acid treatment would prevent precocious adultoid differentiation in allatectomized M. sexta larvae. JH acid injections were found to be as effective as JH in normalizing pupation, and acted in a time‐ and dose‐dependent manner. This finding led to a question of whether injected or endogenous JH acid could be methylated to JH. Homogenates of several tissues from prepupae were assayed for the presence of JHAMT. Of the tissues assayed, only imaginal discs possessed significant levels of the enzyme. These results support our previously proposed mechanism for production of the prepupal JH peak in M. sexta. Copyright © 1985 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Bibliographic Details

Steven P. Sparagana; Govindan Bhaskaran; Punnee Barrera

Wiley

Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Provide Feedback

Have ideas for a new metric? Would you like to see something else here?Let us know