State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
CAS Center for Excellence in Biotic Interactions, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Elife. 2022 Mar 8;11:e74581. doi: 10.7554/eLife.74581.
Reproductive synchrony generally occurs in various group-living animals. However, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unexplored. The migratory locust, , a worldwide agricultural pest species, displays synchronous maturation and oviposition when forms huge swarm. The reproductive synchrony among group members is critical for the maintenance of locust swarms and population density of next generation. Here, we showed that gregarious female locusts displayed more synchronous sexual maturation and oviposition than solitarious females and olfactory deficiency mutants. Only the presence of gregarious male adults can stimulate sexual maturation synchrony of female adults. Of the volatiles emitted abundantly by gregarious male adults, the aggregation pheromone, 4-vinylanisole, was identified to play key role in inducing female sexual maturation synchrony. This maturation-accelerating effect of 4-vinylanisole disappeared in the females of Or35 lines, the mutants of 4-vinylanisole receptor. Interestingly, 4-vinylanisole displayed a time window action by which mainly accelerates oocyte maturation of young females aged at middle developmental stages (3-4 days post adult eclosion). We further revealed that juvenile hormone/vitellogenin pathway mediated female sexual maturation triggered by 4-vinylanisole. Our results highlight a 'catch-up' strategy by which gregarious females synchronize their oocyte maturation and oviposition by time-dependent endocrinal response to 4-vinylanisole, and provide insight into reproductive synchrony induced by olfactory signal released by heterosexual conspecifics in a given group.
生殖同步通常发生在各种群体生活的动物中。然而，其潜在机制在很大程度上仍未得到探索。迁飞蝗，作为一种世界性的农业害虫，在形成庞大的蝗群时表现出同步的成熟和产卵。群体成员之间的生殖同步对于维持蝗群和下一代种群密度至关重要。在这里，我们发现群居雌蝗比独居雌蝗和嗅觉缺陷突变体表现出更同步的性成熟和产卵。只有群居雄成虫的存在才能刺激雌成虫的性成熟同步。在群居雄成虫大量释放的挥发物中，聚集信息素 4-乙烯基茴香醚被鉴定为诱导雌成虫性成熟同步的关键物质。4-乙烯基茴香醚对性成熟的加速作用在 Or35 系突变体中消失了，该突变体是 4-乙烯基茴香醚受体的突变体。有趣的是，4-乙烯基茴香醚表现出时间窗作用，主要加速处于中发育阶段（羽化后 3-4 天）的年轻雌蝗的卵母细胞成熟。我们进一步揭示了 4-乙烯基茴香醚触发的由保幼激素/卵黄蛋白原途径介导的雌性性成熟。我们的研究结果突出了一种“追赶”策略，即群居雌蝗通过对 4-乙烯基茴香醚的时间依赖性内分泌反应来同步它们的卵母细胞成熟和产卵，并为理解由异性同种个体释放的嗅觉信号诱导的生殖同步提供了新的视角。
