Effects of juvenile hormones I, II, and III on reproductive tract growth in male and female monarch butterflies
Abstract
1. 1. The effects of d,l-juvenile hormone I (JH I), JH II, JH III, and the Ayerst mixture of JH I isomers (AJH) on the JH-sensitive organs of the male and female reproductive tracts were tested in neck-ligatured Monarch butterflies. 2. 2. JH I, JH II, and AJH caused dose-dependent wet weight increases in ovaries and female colleterial glands, in three male reproductive glands, and increasing doses of these three substances were directly correlated with elevated production of mature oocytes. 3. 3. By contrast, JH III had little effect on organ wet weight in either sex, and high doses (1 mg/insect) of JH III did not induce production of mature oocytes. 4. 4. These results show that Monarch reproductive tract tissues respond differentially to very closely related, stereochemically similar, JH molecules (i.e. differing by number of methyl groups or geometrical configuration). 5. 5. This finding demonstrates that reproductive tract target cells show specificity for certain JH molecular configurations. 6. 6. Such specificity suggests that target cell receptors, similar to those demonstrated for vertebrate steroids, exist in the Monarch. © 1982.
Publication Title
Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology -- Part A: Physiology
Recommended Citation
Lessman, C., Rollins, L., & Herman, W. (1982). Effects of juvenile hormones I, II, and III on reproductive tract growth in male and female monarch butterflies. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology -- Part A: Physiology, 71 (1), 141-144. https://doi.org/10.1016/0300-9629(82)90380-2
