Bachmann G E, Devescovi F, Nussenbaum A L, Cladera J L, Fernández P C, Vera M T, Teal P E A, Segura D F
Instituto de Genética "E.A. Favret", Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Nicolas Repetto y de los Reseros s/n, Hurlingham, 1686 Buenos Aires, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Godoy Cruz 2290, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires C1425FQB, Argentina.
Instituto de Genética "E.A. Favret", Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA), Nicolas Repetto y de los Reseros s/n, Hurlingham, 1686 Buenos Aires, Argentina.
J Insect Physiol. 2017 Aug;101:7-14. doi: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2017.06.009. Epub 2017 Jun 13.
The juvenile hormone (JH) of insects triggers physiological changes related to reproduction in adults of both sexes. Methoprene is a sesquiterpene with some effects that are analogous to those of JH. Treatments with methoprene accelerate sexual maturation in males of the South American fruit fly Anastrepha fraterculus, giving young males a mating advantage over non-treated males of the same age. Here, we evaluated the effects of methoprene treatment on A. fraterculus males after the sexual maturation phase and tested whether this compound provides a long-term mating advantage. Moreover, we took the first step to unravel the mechanisms that underlie male sexual enhancement. We treated males 1day or 8days after adult emergence and compared mate choice between recently matured (young) females and females that had been mature for ca. 10days (aged females). We also addressed methoprene treatment effects on male sexual signalling. We found that methoprene treatment enhanced male sexual competitiveness even after the sexual maturation phase, and the effect did not decrease until males were older than 20days. However, when methoprene treatment was carried out close to sexual maturity, the mating enhancement was no longer observed, suggesting a non-immediate effect and excluding the possibility that methoprene acts as a pheromonal compound. Young and aged females tended to mate more frequently with treated-males. This might indicate that in a context of sexual selection, the potential benefits associated with reproductive success would be similar for females of both ages. Treated males released larger amounts of pheromonal compounds than non-treated males, but their courtship behaviour was not altered to the same extent, suggesting that methoprene treatment may accelerate differently the components of male courtship. We discuss potential benefits of using methoprene to increase the efficiency of the sterile insect technique, which is an environmentally safe method to control this important South American fruit pest.
昆虫的保幼激素（JH）会引发与两性成虫繁殖相关的生理变化。烯虫酯是一种倍半萜烯，其某些作用与保幼激素类似。用烯虫酯处理可加速南美果蝇Anastrepha fraterculus雄性的性成熟，使年轻雄性比同龄未处理的雄性具有交配优势。在此，我们评估了烯虫酯处理对性成熟阶段后的A. fraterculus雄性的影响，并测试了这种化合物是否能提供长期的交配优势。此外，我们迈出了第一步，以揭示雄性性增强背后的机制。我们在成虫羽化后1天或8天对雄性进行处理，并比较了刚成熟（年轻）的雌性和已成熟约10天的雌性（老龄雌性）之间的配偶选择。我们还研究了烯虫酯处理对雄性性信号的影响。我们发现，即使在性成熟阶段之后，烯虫酯处理仍能增强雄性的性竞争力，并且这种效果直到雄性超过20天时才会减弱。然而，当在接近性成熟时进行烯虫酯处理时，交配增强效果不再出现，这表明其作用并非即时生效，也排除了烯虫酯作为信息素化合物的可能性。年轻和老龄雌性都倾向于更频繁地与经处理的雄性交配。这可能表明，在性选择的背景下，与繁殖成功相关的潜在益处对于两个年龄段的雌性来说是相似的。经处理的雄性释放的信息素化合物比未处理的雄性更多，但其求偶行为的改变程度不同，这表明烯虫酯处理可能会不同程度地加速雄性求偶行为的各个组成部分。我们讨论了使用烯虫酯来提高不育昆虫技术效率的潜在益处，不育昆虫技术是一种环境安全的方法，用于控制这种重要的南美水果害虫。
