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EFFECT OF PBAN ON PHEROMONE PRODUCTION BY MATED Heliothis virescens AND Heliothis subflexa FEMALES

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Abstract

Mated female Heliothis virescens and H. subflexa were induced to produce sex pheromone during the photophase by injection of pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide (PBAN). When injected with 1 pmol Hez-PBAN, the total amount of pheromone that could be extracted from glands of mated females during the photophase was similar to that extracted from virgin females in the scotophase. The PBAN-induced profile of pheromone components was compared between mated, PBAN-injected females and virgin females during spring and fall. Virgin females exhibited some differences in the relative composition of the pheromone blend between spring and fall, but no such temporal differences were detected in PBAN-injected, mated females. Because the temporal variation in pheromone blend composition was greater for virgin females than for PBAN-injected females, PBAN can be used to determine a female’s native pheromone phenotype. This procedure has the advantages that pheromone glands can be extracted during the photophase, from mated females that have already oviposited.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Entomology, W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, USA

    ASTRID T. GROOT, YONGLIANG FAN, FRED GOULD & COBY SCHAL

  2. Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27695-7613, USA

    CAVELL BROWNIE

  3. Department of Entomology, Iowa State University, 407 Science II, Ames, Iowa, 50011-3222, USA

    RUSSELL A. JURENKA

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  1. ASTRID T. GROOT
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  2. YONGLIANG FAN
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  4. RUSSELL A. JURENKA
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Correspondence to ASTRID T. GROOT.

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GROOT, A.T., FAN, Y., BROWNIE, C. et al. EFFECT OF PBAN ON PHEROMONE PRODUCTION BY MATED Heliothis virescens AND Heliothis subflexa FEMALES. J Chem Ecol 31, 15–28 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-005-0970-8

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