Insect cellular differentiation. I. Redifferentiation of the adult labial glands of Manduca sexta (Lepidoptera).
With the exception of a few primitive ephemeropterans, winged insects do not normally molt as adults, although they can molt under appropriate hormonal conditions. We investigated this supernumerary molt process by taking adult labial glands (from Manduca sexta), cutting them into fragments of a single cell type, implanting them into individual freshly molted pupae, and then recovering them from pharate adult and adult hosts. The appearance and function of these fragments were compared to those of normally metamorphosing glands. Based on these criteria: (1) the supernumerary adult molt involved cellular de- and re-differentiation and (2) no transdifferentiation occurred, between the separate adult gland cell types.
D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D007915:Lepidoptera / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development; D008675:Metamorphosis, Biological