FUNCTION OF ACCESSORY SEX GLANDS IN PERIPLANETA AMERICANA (L) .2. ROLE OF JUVENILE HORMONE IN SYNTHESIS OF PROTEIN AND PROTOCATECHUIC ACID GLUCOSIDE

The left colleterial gland, as part of the accessory sex glands of the adult female cockroach, produces a structural protein and the phenolic tanning agent, protocatechuic acid glucoside. Both are needed for the formation of the egg capsule (ootheca), which contains the eggs of the species. The synthesis of the two compounds is under the control of the corpus allatum hormone. Transplanted colleterial glands are able to synthesize protein and glucoside in adult females; in adult males, however, the transplanted glands are able to synthesize only protein. They do not synthesize glucoside, even under the influence of additional juvenile hormone supplied to the male hosts by injection. Yet males produce enough juvenile hormone to promote the synthesis of protein and glucoside by colleterial gland cultured in female hosts. This was demonstrated by combining in parabiotic fusion adult males with decapitated adult females. The adult female apparently contains a factor which in the presence of juvenile hormone is a prerequisite for glucoside but not for protein synthesis. This factor is apparently also absent in nymphs of both sexes. The dependence of protein synthesis on the juvenile hormone provides a quantitative bioassay for estimating the juvenile hormone titer in all postembryonic stages of development. At present, glucoside synthesis can only be used as an indicator for the juvenile hormone concentration of adult females of different ages. The juvenile hormone presumably acts directly on the tissues of the collecterial glands. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Professor Alfred Kühn, one of the great biologists of his time, who died in Tübingen, Germany on November 22, 1968. Copyright © 1969 Wiley‐Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company