Canadian Forest Service Publications
Failure of ovarian development in the Doulgas-fir bark beetle, Dendroctonus pseudotsugae; An analysis of gut proteases and female-specif proteins. 1971. Sahota, T.S. Canadian Journal of Zoology 49(7): 1021-1024.
Year: 1971
Issued by: Pacific Forestry Centre
Catalog ID: 28428
Language: English
CFS Availability: Not available through the CFS (click for more information).
Available from the Journal's Web site. †
DOI: 10.1139/z71-156
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Abstract
The failure of ovarian development in Douglas-fir bark beetles denied of their natural gallery environment and maintained on host bark chips was investigated. Such insects possessed a high activity of proteolytic enzymes in their guts but relatively small amounts of female-specific proteins both in haemolymph and the oocytes. Topical application of farnesyl methyl ether did not increase the activity of gut proteases but resulted in increased amounts of female-specific proteins in haemolymph and ovaries. Thus it appears that the Douglas-fir bark beetles maintained on bark chips do not suffer from an inability to break down the ingested proteins, but synthesize and transfer less than normal amounts of female-specific proteins to the developing oocytes.