(040802 revised, 040802 created)
Lobbia S, Niitsu S, Fujiwara H. (2003).
Female-specific wing degeneration caused by ecdysteroid in the Tussock
Moth, Orgyia recens: Hormonal and developmental regulation of sexual dimorphism.
Journal of Insect Science, 3:11-18 (2003).
7pp.,
Females of the tussock moth Orgyia recens have vestigial wings, whereas the males have normal wings. During early pupal development,
female wings degenerate drastically compared with those of males. To examine whether ecdysteroid is involved in this sex-specific wing
development, we cultured pupal wings just after pupation with ecdysteroid (20-hydroxyecdysone, 20E). In the presence of 20E, the
female wings degenerated to about one-fifth their original size. In contrast, the male wings cultured with 20E showed only peripheral
degeneration just outside the bordering lacuna, as in other butterflies and moths. TUNEL analysis showed that apoptotic signals were
induced by 20E over the entire region of female wings, but only in the peripheral region of male wings. Semi-thin sections of the wings
cultured with ecdysteroid showed that phagocytotic hemocytes were observed abundantly throughout the female wings, but in onlyperipheral regions of male wings. These observations indicate that both apoptotic events and phagocytotic activation are triggered by
ecdysteroid, in sex-specific and region-specific manners.
Orgyia recens: English name: the Tussock Moth. Japanese name:アカモンドクガ, 原名亜種はヨーロッパに産し、幼虫は サクラ・クヌギ・バラその他種々の植物に寄生する(保育社の原色 日本蛾類図鑑)
sexual dimorphism: 性的二型