Abstract
What physiological and neuro-molecular changes control the female oviposition behavior post-mating in insects? The molecular changes that occur in a gravid female insect are difficult to dissect out considering the distinct behavioral patterns displayed by different insect groups. To understand the role of the brain center in Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis oviposition, egg-laying behavior was analyzed in γ-octalactone exposed, decapitated mated B. dorsalis females. Interestingly, the females displayed a possible urge to oviposit, which suggests a natural instinct to pass on the gene pool. Expression analysis of certain genes involved in oviposition behavior was also carried out in these insects to explore the molecular aspects of such behavior. This study tries to assess the involvement of brain center in egg-laying and also explore the role of certain neurotransmitter-related receptors in decapitated B. dorsalis oviposition behavior. Our results indicate that B. dorsalis oviposition behavior could potentially have a bypass route of neuronal control devoid of the brain. The study reported here establishes that decapitation in gravid females fails to abolish their ability to sense ovipositional cues and also to oviposit.
Highlights
The fate of the insect world rests on insect mothers
Like intact females, decapitated females were found to be active for a long time, and they were capable of laying eggs (Figure 1)
When the decapitated flies were exposed to an oviposition stimulant (GOL), there were no significant differences between the treatments respectively (Figure 2A)
Summary
The fate of the insect world rests on insect mothers. As a community, insects have often been regarded successful in the evolutionary sense because of their extremely high fecundity and resilience. Oviposition in insects is driven by semiochemical cues that elicit a response from the gravid females that triggers the downstream reactions such as when and where to lay eggs (reviewed in Kamala Jayanthi et al, 2014a,b, 2017, 2021; Cury et al, 2019), resulting in egg-laying. Insects carry the memory of ovipositional stimulant cues that are a part of the host volatiles which support their progeny survival (Gregório et al, 2012; Kamala Jayanthi et al, 2014a). In higher-order organisms such as humans, decision-making is driven by strong emotions It is a constant learning process and their decisions are guided by various cues that include environmental stimuli. Ovipositional stimulus is guided by different coordinating tissues, such as the endocrine system, the female reproductive tissues, and neuronal network aside from the molecular effectors that are involved in the entire process (reviewed in Cury et al, 2019). Vitellogenin and a few olfactory genes are involved in oviposition (reviewed by Li H. et al, 2020)
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