Insect Chemical Ecology Laboratory U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agicultural Research Center, 20705, Beltsville, Maryland.
J Chem Ecol. 1991 Feb;17(2):317-34. doi: 10.1007/BF00994335.
When physiologically excessive amounts of the female sex pheromone of the European corn borer (ECB) or esters analogous to the pheromone were applied to the antennae of males, their behavioral responsiveness to pheromone in a flight tunnel was significantly impaired for 2 hr. Concurrent quantitative analyses of heptane extracts of the male antennae by gasliquid chromatography showed that the compounds applied to antennae were hydrolyzed and, at 2 and 4 hr posttreatment, little or none of the compound applied or hydrolysis product was detectable in the antennal extracts. After 4 hr of in vivo incubation, male responsiveness to pheromone was restored among moths treated with the analogs but not among moths treated with pheromone. Esterase activity on the antennae was moderately inhibited in vivo by a pheromone analog that is a so-called transition-state esterase inhibitor, 1,1, 1-trifluoro-14-heptadecen-2-one. However, the analog did not inhibit male behavior when it was coevaporated with pheromone in a flight-tunnel assay. Therefore, in the presence of pheromone, the analog did not compete well for esterase or the pheromone receptor. Treating the antennae of intact males with tetrahydrofuran obliterated sex pheromone response capability in males, but the treatment did not significantly attenuate esterase and other catabolic activity of the antennae. Indications are that degradation of esters on the ECB antennae involves substrate-nonspecific esterase activity and other metabolic processes that in turn remove hydrolysis products from the antennae. Maintenance of a male's ability to respond to pheromone is linked to these processes.
当过量的欧洲玉米螟雌性性信息素或类似的信息素酯类物质被应用于雄蛾的触角时，它们在飞行隧道中对信息素的行为反应能力在 2 小时内显著受损。同时，通过气液色谱对雄蛾触角的庚烷提取物进行定量分析表明，应用于触角的化合物被水解，并且在处理后 2 和 4 小时，触角提取物中几乎检测不到应用的化合物或水解产物。在体内孵育 4 小时后，用类似物处理的蛾对信息素的反应性得到恢复，但用信息素处理的蛾则没有。在体内，一种所谓的过渡态酯酶抑制剂 1,1,1-三氟-14-十七烯-2-酮，对触角上的酯酶活性有适度的抑制作用。然而，当在飞行隧道试验中与信息素共蒸发时，该类似物并没有抑制雄蛾的行为。因此，在信息素存在的情况下，类似物不能很好地与酯酶或信息素受体竞争。用四氢呋喃处理完整雄蛾的触角会破坏雄蛾对性信息素的反应能力，但这种处理并没有显著减弱触角的酯酶和其他代谢活性。迹象表明，欧洲玉米螟触角上酯类物质的降解涉及非特异性酯酶活性和其他代谢过程，这些过程反过来又将水解产物从触角中去除。维持雄蛾对信息素的反应能力与这些过程有关。
