DNA Content and Synthesis in Several Tissues and Variation of Moulting Hormone-Level in Gryllus bimaculatus DEG (Ensifera, Insecta)

Abstract

The mode of growth of several tissues in Gryllus bimaculatus was investigated during postembryonic development by cytophotometric methods. In contrast to the situation in holo- metabolous insects, the tissues growing by endomitosis reach only moderate levels of polyploidy. In this case the growth of tissues is achieved by mitotic divisions of small cells with subsequent polyploidization. The time courses of DNA synthesis were measured within the 3rd and, for comparison, the 8th larval instar by incorporation of labelled thymidine followed by autoradiography. Hemocytes, cells of the regeneration crypts of the midgut, gonads and nervous tissue showed a continuous incorporation rate; by contrast, DNA synthesis in other tissues was confined to a given time within the moulting cycle. The changes in moulting hormone titre of the 3rd larval instar were investigated. The quantities of ecdysone and 20-OH-ecdysone were estimated by radioimmunoassay, and the hormones were identified by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). The titre changes in time with at least 2 distinct maxima. The DNA synthesis periods are correlated with the hormone peaks, that of epidermis and tracheae with the first peak, and that of pylorus, ileum, rectum, Malpighian tubules and fat body with the second. DNA synthesis in prothoracic glands and oenocytes exhibits a time course that is the inverse of the hormone-secretion time course. The question whether moulting hormones have an influence on DNA synthesis is discussed.