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The domestic silk moth is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of Bombyx mandarina, the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva of a silk moth. The silkworm is of particular economic value, being a primary producer of silk. The silkworm's preferred food are the leaves of white mulberry, though they may eat other species of mulberry, and even leaves of other plants like the osage orange. Domestic silk moths are entirely dependent on humans for reproduction, as a result of millennia of selective breeding. Wild silk moths are not as commercially viable in the production of silk.
Nicotiana is a genus of herbaceous plants and shrubs in the family Solanaceae, that is indigenous to the Americas, Australia, Southwestern Africa and the South Pacific. Various Nicotiana species, commonly referred to as tobacco plants, are cultivated as ornamental garden plants. N. tabacum is grown worldwide for the cultivation of tobacco leaves used for manufacturing and producing tobacco products, including cigars, cigarillos, cigarettes, chewing tobacco, dipping tobacco, snuff, and snus.
A pheromone is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting like hormones outside the body of the secreting individual, to affect the behavior of the receiving individuals. There are alarm pheromones, food trail pheromones, sex pheromones, and many others that affect behavior or physiology. Pheromones are used by many organisms, from basic unicellular prokaryotes to complex multicellular eukaryotes. Their use among insects has been particularly well documented. In addition, some vertebrates, plants and ciliates communicate by using pheromones. The ecological functions and evolution of pheromones are a major topic of research in the field of chemical ecology.
The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family of moths. They are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the other families of the Noctuoidea. It was considered the largest family in Lepidoptera for a long time, but after regrouping Lymantriinae, Catocalinae and Calpinae within the family Erebidae, the latter holds this title now. Currently, Noctuidae is the second largest family in Noctuoidea, with about 1,089 genera and 11,772 species. This classification is still contingent, as more changes continue to appear between Noctuidae and Erebidae.
Helicoverpa zea, commonly known as the corn earworm, is a species in the family Noctuidae. The larva of the moth Helicoverpa zea is a major agricultural pest. Since it is polyphagous during the larval stage, the species has been given many different common names, including the cotton bollworm and the tomato fruitworm. It also consumes a wide variety of other crops.
Juvenile hormones (JHs) are a group of acyclic sesquiterpenoids that regulate many aspects of insect physiology. The first discovery of a JH was by Vincent Wigglesworth. JHs regulate development, reproduction, diapause, and polyphenisms. The chemical formula for juvenile hormone is .
Agrotis segetum, sometimes known as the turnip moth, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is a common European species and it is found in Africa and across Eurasia except for the northernmost parts.
Bombykol is a pheromone released by the female silkworm moth to attract mates. It is also the sex pheromone in the wild silk moth. Discovered by Adolf Butenandt in 1959, it was the first pheromone to be characterized chemically.
Odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) are small soluble proteins secreted by auxiliary cells surrounding olfactory receptor neurons, including the nasal mucus of many vertebrate species and in the sensillar lymph of chemosensory sensilla of insects. OBPs are characterized by a specific protein domain that comprises six α-helices joined by three disulfide bonds. Although the function of the OBPs as a whole is not well established, it is believed that they act as odorant transporters, delivering the odorant molecules to olfactory receptors in the cell membrane of sensory neurons.
Sex pheromones are pheromones released by an organism to attract an individual of the same species, encourage them to mate with them, or perform some other function closely related with sexual reproduction. Sex pheromones specifically focus on indicating females for breeding, attracting the opposite sex, and conveying information on species, age, sex and genotype. Non-volatile pheromones, or cuticular contact pheromones, are more closely related to social insects as they are usually detected by direct contact with chemoreceptors on the antennae or feet of insects.
Agrotis ipsilon, the dark sword-grass, black cutworm, greasy cutworm, floodplain cutworm or ipsilon dart, is a small noctuid moth found worldwide. The moth gets its scientific name from black markings on its forewings shaped like the letter "Y" or the Greek letter upsilon. The larvae are known as "cutworms" because they cut plants and other crops. The larvae are serious agricultural pests and feed on nearly all varieties of vegetables and many important grains.
Corazonin is a highly conserved neuropeptide found in many insects, in particular locusts and cockroaches.
Helicoverpa assulta, the oriental tobacco budworm, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. H. assulta adults are migratory and are found all over the Old World Tropics including Asia, Africa, and Australia.
Hair-pencils and coremata are pheromone signaling structures present in lepidopteran males. Males use hair-pencils in courtship behaviors with females. The pheromones they excrete serve as both aphrodisiacs and tranquilizers to females as well as repellents to conspecific males. Hair-pencil glands are stored inside the male until courtship begins, at which point they are forced out of the body by sclerotized levers present on the abdomen. Coremata are very similar structures. Their exact definition is confused by early descriptions but they are more specifically defined as the internal, glandular, eversible structures that bear the hair-pencils and can be voluntarily inflated with hemolymph or air.
Hemolin is an immunoglobulin-like protein exclusively found in Lepidoptera. It was first discovered in immune-challenged pupae of Hyalophora cecropia and Manduca sexta.
Insect olfaction refers to the function of chemical receptors that enable insects to detect and identify volatile compounds for foraging, predator avoidance, finding mating partners and locating oviposition habitats. Thus, it is the most important sensation for insects. Most important insect behaviors must be timed perfectly which is dependent on what they smell and when they smell it. For example, olfaction is essential for locating host plants and hunting prey in many species of insects, such as the moth Deilephila elpenor and the wasp Polybia sericea, respectively.
Helicoverpa zea nudivirus 2 is an enveloped, rod-shaped, nonoccluded, double stranded DNA (dsDNA) sexually transmitted virus whose natural host is the corn earworm moth. At about 440 by 90 nm, it is the causative agent of the only sexually transmitted viral disease of any insect. It was originally identified in a colony of corn earworm moths established and maintained in Stoneville, Mississippi, U.S. and was found to be responsible for the sterility of those infected.
Cytochrome P450, family 9, also known as CYP9, is a cytochrome P450 family found in Insect genome, CYP9 and insect CYP6 family belong to the same clan as mammalian CYP3 and CYP5 families. The first gene identified in this family is the CYP9A1 from the Heliothis virescens, which is involved in thiodicarb insecticide resistance. Subfamily CYP9A in Lepidopteran play important roles in insecticide resistance, can metabolize esfenvalerate efficiently.
Insect pheromones are neurotransmitters that serve the chemical communication between individuals of an insect species. They thus differ from kairomones, in other words, neurotransmitters that transmit information to non-species organisms. Insects produce pheromones in special glands and release them into the environment. In the pheromone receptors of the sensory cells of the recipient, they produce a nerve stimulus even in very low concentrations, which ultimately leads to a behavioral response. Intraspecific communication of insects via these substances takes place in a variety of ways and serves, among other things, to find sexual partner, to maintain harmony in a colony of socially living insects, to mark territories or to find nest sites and food sources.
References
- ↑ Rafaeli, Ada (2009). "Pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide (PBAN): Regulatory role and mode of action". General and Comparative Endocrinology. 162 (1): 69–78. doi:10.1016/j.ygcen.2008.04.004. PMID 18495120.
- ↑ Duportets, Line; Gadenne, Christophe; Dufour, Marie-Cécile; Couillaud, Franck (1998). "The pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide (PBAN) of the black cutworm moth, Agrotis ipsilon: Immunohistochemistry, molecular characterization and bioassay of its peptide sequence". Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 28 (8): 591–599. doi:10.1016/s0965-1748(98)00033-2. PMID 9753769.
- ↑ Yeon Choi, Man; Tanaka, Minoru; Kataoka, Hiroshi; Saeng Boo, Kyung; Tatsuki, Sadahiro (1998-10-01). "Isolation and identification of the cDNA encoding the pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide and additional neuropeptides in the oriental tobacco budworm, Helicoverpa assulta (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)". Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 28 (10): 759–766. doi:10.1016/S0965-1748(98)00065-4. PMID 9807222.
- ↑ Matsumoto, Shogo; Hull, J. Joe; Ohnishi, Atsushi; Moto, Ken’ichi; Fónagy, Adrien (2007). "Molecular mechanisms underlying sex pheromone production in the silkmoth, Bombyx mori: Characterization of the molecular components involved in bombykol biosynthesis". Journal of Insect Physiology. 53 (8): 752–9. doi:10.1016/j.jinsphys.2007.02.014. PMID 17448494.
- ↑ Ohnishi, Atsushi; Hull, J. Joe; Matsumoto, Shogo (2006). "Targeted disruption of genes in the Bombyx mori sex pheromone biosynthetic pathway". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 103 (12): 4398–403. Bibcode:2006PNAS..103.4398O. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0511270103 . PMC 1450183 . PMID 16537410.
- ↑ Choi, Man-Yeon; Fuerst, Emily-Jean; Rafaeli, Ada; Jurenka, Russell (2003). "Identification of a G protein-coupled receptor for pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide from pheromone glands of the moth Helicoverpa zea". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 100 (17): 9721–9726. Bibcode:2003PNAS..100.9721C. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1632485100 . PMC 187832 . PMID 12888624.