VITELLOGENESIS IN THE ALLATECTOMIZED STICK INSECT CARAUSIUS-MOROSUS (BR) (PHASMATODEA, LONCHODINAE)

Effects of allatectomy on vitellogenesis in adult Carausius morosus Br. were examined using rocket immunoelectrophoresis, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, fluoro graphic identification and quantitation by liquid scintillation of in vivo S-35-methionine-labeled proteins, and light microscope autoradiography. In normal adults and in adults allatectomized as last instar nymphs, Coomassie Blue-stained vitellogenin (Vg) was first detectable in the hemolymph between 3 and 5 days after adult emergence. Allatectomy of 11-18-day-old adults produced no detectable effects on subsequent Vg synthesis, secretion or uptake, but ovarian follicles in adults that had been allatectomized as nymphs were less efficient at taking up Vg than were those in sham-operated animals. Compared to sham-operated controls, adults allatectomized as nymphs displayed an increased rate of accumulation of newly synthesized Vg in the hemolymph, a decreased rate of accumulation of vitellin in terminal follicles, a decrease in the size of yolk spheres containing newly synthesized vitellogenic protein in the peripheral ooplasm, and alterations in the size distribution of terminal follicles, Thus, post-induction vitellogenesis and primary induction of Vg synthesis in C. morosus do not require active corpora allata (CA), but a normal rate of Vg uptake may be JH-facilitated.