title: Determination of the pheromone-producing region that has epoxidation activity in the abdominal tip of the Japanese giant looper, Ascotis selenaria cretacea (Lepidoptera: Geometridae).
abstract: The epoxydienyl sex pheromone of Ascotis selenaria cretacea can be detected only within a rod-like abdominal tip (RAT) of the female. To clarify which part of the RAT is the sex pheromone-producing region, the RAT was morphologically divided into three sections, defined positionally from the abdomen as sections A, B, and C. GC-MS measurements clearly showed that the sex pheromone compound levels in section B were four times greater than those of the other sections. Microscopic dissection analysis revealed that section B consists of four tissues: rectum, oviduct, musculature, and intersegmental membrane. GC-MS analysis of the individual tissues revealed that approximately 90% of the sex pheromone in section B is localized in the intersegmental membrane. A cell layer was found in the intersegmental membrane after staining with propidium iodide. Furthermore, incubation of tissues dissected from section B with a deuterated trienyl pheromone precursor revealed that the labeled epoxy pheromonal component was detected exclusively in the intersegmental membrane. We have determined that the sex pheromone-producing region of A. s. cretacea is on the terminal side of the intersegmental membrane located between the 8th and 9th abdominal segments.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering (BASE), Tokyo, University of Agriculture and Technology, Koganei, Tokyo 184-8588, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.forename: Masataka G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawai
authors.forename: Kazuhide
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsuneizumi
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ohnishi
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kurihara
authors.forename: Shogo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Tetsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ando
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D000818:Animals; D004852:Epoxy Compounds / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D009036:Moths / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000378:metabolism*; D012724:Sex Attractants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004852:Epoxy Compounds; D012724:Sex Attractants