Neuroendocrine and juvenile hormone effects on fat body protein synthesis during the reproductive cycle in female Blaberus discoidalis cockroaches

Abstract

Ovarian protein content and fat body protein synthesis were measured during the first gonotrophic cycle in virgin female Blaberus discoidalis cockroaches. Protein systhesis was measured for in vitro fat bodies from animals treated with combinations of a juvenile hor mone analog (JHA = methoprene) and corpora cardiaca (CC) extracts. Ovarian protein content began to increase on Day 5 of adult life and reached its maximum at Days 20–22. Synthesis of proteins secreted by the in vitro fat body increased by 12-fold between emergence and its maximum on Day 18, then declined to nearly its original level by Day 33. Synthesis of nonsecreted, fat body proteins increased by 4-fold between emergence and a maximum on Day 21, then declined. CC extracts and JHA were administered to decapitated females to determine their regulative effects on fat body protein synthesis. The synthesis by the fat body of nonsecreted proteins was increased by both JHA and CC extracts. In contrast, synthesis of secreted proteins increased only in the presence of JHA. CC extracts, alone, had no effects on the synthesis of secreted proteins, but administration of CC extracts in combination with JHA increased the synthesis of the secreted proteins by 55% above that observed with JHA alone. SDS-PAGE of proteins secreted into the medium by the in vitro fat body demonstrated that JHA stimulated the synthesis of specific polypeptides, whereas CC extracts did not affect the synthesis of specific-secreted polypeptides. These results suggest that JH regulates specific protein synthesis by the fat body of B. discoidalis; neurohormones elevate the general capacity of the fat body for protein synthesis and amplify the specific effects of JH.