FEMALE SPECIFIC PROTEIN - BIOSYNTHESIS CONTROLLED BY CORPUS ALLATUM IN LEUCOPHAEA MADERAE

A specific protein is present in serums of all females of Leucophaea maderae that mature eggs but not in serums of males, nymphs of either sex, or females that are reproductively inactive. Ablations, microsurgery, and reimplantations showed that this protein is produced de novo under the influence of the corpus allatum hormone. This protein, essential for egg maturation, is synthesized in isolated abdomens of allatectomized females treated with 0.08 to 0.12 microgram of the t,t,t-isomer of the authentic juvenile hormone. The corpus allatum hormone also stimulates to a similar degree the synthesis of other proteins which appear to be essential for egg maturation as well; these are not specific to females.