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J Exp Biol

Title:		Peripheral and behavioral plasticity of pheromone response and its hormonal control in a long-lived moth
Author(s):		Lemmen J; Evenden M;
Address:		"Department of Biological Sciences, CW405 Biological Sciences Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2E9. jlemmen@ualberta.ca"
Journal Title:		J Exp Biol
Year:		2009
Volume:		212
Issue:		Pt 13
Page Number:		2000 - 2006
DOI:		10.1242/jeb.030858
ISSN/ISBN:		0022-0949 (Print) 0022-0949 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Reproductive success in many animals depends on the efficient production of and response to sexual signals. In insects, plasticity in sexual communication is predicted in species that experience periods of reproductive inactivity when environmental conditions are unsuitable for reproduction. Here, we study a long-lived moth Caloptilia fraxinella (Ely) (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) that is reproductively inactive from eclosion in summer until the following spring. Male sex pheromone responsiveness is plastic and corresponds with female receptivity. Pheromone response plasticity has not been studied in a moth with an extended period of reproductive inactivity. In this study, we ask whether male antennal response and flight behavior are plastic during different stages of reproductive inactivity and whether these responses are regulated by juvenile hormone. Antennal response to the pheromone blend is significantly reduced in reproductively inactive males tested in the summer and autumn as compared with reproductively active males tested in the spring. Reproductively inactive autumn but not summer males show lower antennal responses to individual pheromone components compared with spring males. Treatment with methoprene enhances antennal response of autumn but not summer males to high doses of the pheromone blend. Behavioral response is induced by methoprene treatment in males treated in the autumn but not in the summer. Plasticity of pheromone response in C. fraxinella is regulated, at least in part, by the peripheral nervous system. Antennal and behavioral response to pheromone differed in reproductively active and inactive males and increased with methoprene treatment of inactive males"
Keywords:		"Animals Behavior, Animal/*drug effects Female Male Methoprene/pharmacology Moths/*physiology Pheromones/*pharmacology;"
Notes:		"MedlineLemmen, Joelle Evenden, Maya eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2009/06/16 J Exp Biol. 2009 Jul; 212(Pt 13):2000-6. doi: 10.1242/jeb.030858"