Nonreciprocal gonadal dysgenesis in hybrids of the chironomid midgeChironomus thummi. IV. Behavior of a female-specific protein, probably a vitellogenin

Abstract

Using denaturing SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, a protein with a subunit MW of about 148,000 daltons could be detected in the fat body of females of the reciprocal hybrids ofChironomus thummi thummi andChironomus thummi piger, which is not present in males. This protein is presumably a vitellogenin and can be found in both hybrids during the late fourth-instar larval stage until eclosion of the adults, i.e., in early vitellogenesis. After eclosion, the reciprocal hybrids behave differently concerning the 148-kd protein. In females of thepiger ♀ × thummi ♂ cross, which are fertile and produce yolky eggs, the 148-kd protein disappears from the fat body immediately after eclosion. In females of the reciprocal cross (thummi ♀ × piger ♂) which are affected by gonadal dysgenesis and in which the oocytes only rarely contain yolk, the 148-kd protein is still present in the fat body of the adult up to 50 hr after eclosion until the fat body degrades. It is concluded that the inability of the sterilethummi ♀ × piger ♂ females to produce yolky eggs is caused by an impaired uptake of the presumed 148-kd vitellogenin into oocytes and not by a defective vitellogenesis. The impaired vitellogenin deposition into oocytes is taken as another aberrant trait of gonadal dysgenesis of thethummi ♀ × piger ♂ hybrids.