School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0118.
Integr Comp Biol. 2003 Nov;43(5):607-16. doi: 10.1093/icb/43.5.607.
The endocrine mechanisms controlling the development and reproduction of flight-capable (long-winged) and flightless (short-winged or wingless) morphs of wing-polymorphic insects have been intensively investigated. The "classical model," put forward in the early 1960s, postulates that morph-specific differences in development and reproduction are caused by variation in the titers of juvenile hormone (JH) and/or ecdysone. Despite decades of study, the importance of these hormones in regulating wing polymorphism in aphids and planthoppers remains uncertain. This uncertainly is largely a consequence of technical and size constraints which have severely limited the types of endocrine approaches that can be used in these insects. Recent studies in wing-polymorphic crickets (Gryllus) have provided the first direct evidence that the in vivo blood titers of juvenile hormone and ecdysone, and especially the activity of the JH regulator, juvenile hormone esterase, differ between nascent morphs. Morph differences are largely consistent with the classical model, although some types of data are problematic, and other explanations are possible. Adult morphs differ dramatically in the JH titer but titer differences are more complex than those proposed by the classical model. Detailed endocrine information is thus far available only for a few species of crickets, and the hormonal control of wing polymorphism for insects as a whole remains poorly understood. Future studies should continue to investigate the role of JH and ecdysteroids in morph development and reproduction, and should expand to include studies of morph-specific differences in hormone receptors and neurohormones.
控制具有飞行能力（长翅）和无飞行能力（短翅或无翅）形态的翅多态昆虫发育和繁殖的内分泌机制已经得到了深入研究。早在 20 世纪 60 年代提出的“经典模型”假设，形态特异性发育和繁殖的差异是由保幼激素（JH）和/或蜕皮激素的滴度变化引起的。尽管经过了几十年的研究，这些激素在调节蚜虫和叶蝉的翅多态性中的重要性仍然不确定。这种不确定性主要是由于技术和大小的限制，这些限制严重限制了可以在这些昆虫中使用的内分泌方法的类型。最近在翅多态性蟋蟀（Gryllus）中的研究提供了第一个直接证据，证明体内保幼激素和蜕皮激素的血药浓度，特别是保幼激素调节剂——保幼激素酯酶的活性，在新生形态之间存在差异。形态差异与经典模型基本一致，尽管某些类型的数据存在问题，并且可能存在其他解释。成虫形态在 JH 滴度上差异很大，但滴度差异比经典模型提出的更为复杂。详细的内分泌信息迄今为止仅可用于少数几种蟋蟀，而昆虫整体的翅多态性的激素控制仍知之甚少。未来的研究应继续研究 JH 和蜕皮甾酮在形态发育和繁殖中的作用，并应扩大到包括对激素受体和神经激素的形态特异性差异的研究。
