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Release mechanism of sex pheromone in the female gypsy moth Lymantria dispar: a morpho-functional approach

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Abstract

A morpho-functional investigation of the sex pheromone-producing area was correlated with the pheromone release mechanism in the female gypsy moth Lymantria dispar. As assessed by male electroantennograms (EAG) and morphological observations, the pheromone gland consists of a single-layered epithelium both in the dorsal and ventral halves of the intersegmental membrane between the 8th and 9th abdominal segments. By using the male EAG as a biosensor of real-time release of sex pheromone from whole calling females, we found this process time coupled with extension movements of the ovipositor. Nevertheless, in females in which normal calling behavior was prevented, pheromone release was detected neither in absence nor in presence of electrical stimulation of the ventral nerve cord/terminal abdominal ganglion (TAG) complex. Tetramethylrhodamine-conjugated dextran amine stainings also confirm the lack of any innervation of the gland from nerves IV to VI emerging from the TAG. These findings indicate that the release of sex pheromone from the glands in female gypsy moths is independent of any neural control exerted by the TAG on the glands, at least by way of its three most caudally located pairs of nerves, and appears as a consequence of a squeezing mechanism in the pheromone-producing area.

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Abbreviations

EAG:

Electroantennogram

LSCM:

Laser scanning confocal microscopy

S7:

The 7th abdominal segment

S8-IM:

The 8th abdominal segment (including the intersegmental membrane)

S8-IMd:

Dorsal half of the 8th abdominal segment

S8-IMv:

Ventral half of the 8th abdominal segment

S9:

The 9th abdominal segment (ovipositor)

TAG:

Terminal abdominal ganglion

TMR-DA:

Tetramethylrhodamine-conjugated dextran amine

VNC:

Ventral nerve cord

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to John Tanner from the Otis Pest Survey Detection and Exclusion Laboratory (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Otis ANGB, MA, USA) for supplying gypsy moth specimens. We also thank Felice Loffredo for technical assistance during ultrastructural analyses, Alessandro Riva for the use of the HRSEM Hitachi S4000 electron microscope, Giuliana P. Serra for the use of Leica 4D LSCM, Piera Angioni for technical support during electrophysiological experiments and David Nilson for improving the English. We also thank anonymous reviewers for comments that improved this manuscript. This work was partly supported by the “Stazione Sperimentale del Sughero, Regione Autonoma della Sardegna” (Sardinia, Italy) and by the Italian MURST (FISR). Experiments comply with the ‘‘Principles of animal care’’, publication No. 86–23, revised 1985 of the National Institute of Health, and also with the current laws of the EC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Biology, Section of General Physiology, University of Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria, SS 554 km 4.5, 09042, Monserrato (CA), Italy

    Paolo Solari, Roberto Crnjar, Giorgia Sollai, Carla Masala & Anna Liscia

  2. Department of Animal Biology and Ecology, University of Cagliari, V.le Poetto 1, 09126, Cagliari, Italy

    Saturnino Spiga

  3. Department of Cytomorphology, University of Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria, SS 554 km 4.5, 09042, Monserrato (CA), Italy

    Francesco Loy

Authors
  1. Paolo Solari
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  2. Roberto Crnjar
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  3. Saturnino Spiga
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  4. Giorgia Sollai
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  5. Francesco Loy
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  6. Carla Masala
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  7. Anna Liscia
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Correspondence to Anna Liscia.

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Solari, P., Crnjar, R., Spiga, S. et al. Release mechanism of sex pheromone in the female gypsy moth Lymantria dispar: a morpho-functional approach. J Comp Physiol A 193, 775–785 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-007-0232-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-007-0232-z

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