Sex pheromone production in the female pine caterpillar moth, Dendrolimus punctatus is controlled by a PBAN-like substance located in the head of female moth.
Pheromone titer was significantly decreased by
decapitation of female moth, and restored by injection of either
Hez-PBAN or head extract prepared from male or female moth. Stimulation of
pheromone production by head extract followed a dose-dependent pattern from 0.5 to at least 4 head equivalent. A gland in vitro assay was used to study the relationship between gland incubation time and
pheromone production as well as
calcium involvement in the stimulation of
pheromone production by head extract. Maximum
pheromone production was occurred at 60 min after
pheromone gland was incubated with two equivalents of head extracts. In vitro experiments showed that the presence of
calcium in the incubation medium was necessary for stimulation of
pheromone production. The
calcium ionophore,
A 23187, alone stimulated
pheromone production. The
pheromone components (Z,E)-5,7-dodecadienol and its
acetate and
propionate were produced in these experiments but in addition to the
aldehyde, (Z,E)-5,7-dodecadienal was also found. This indicates that females are capable of producing four oxygenated functional groups. The PBAN-like substance control of the
pheromone biosynthetic pathway was investigated by monitoring the incorporation of the labeled precursor into both
pheromone and
pheromone intermediates.