PBAN Regulation of Sex Pheromone Biosynthesis in Spodoptera littoralis

Abstract

The first experimental evidence that a neuroendocrine factor from the brainsubesophageal ganglion complex (Br—SOG) is involved in the control of sex pheromone production was provided by Raina and Klun (1984) using Helicoverpa zea. Subsequent research revealed that pheromonotropic activity was also present in the Br—SOG of other moths (Altstein et al. 1989; Ando et al. 1988; Bestmann et al. 1989; Cusson and McNeil 1989a; Martinez and Camps 1988; Rafaeli and Soroker 1989a; Tang et al. 1989). This factor, which was termed pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide (PBAN), was later isolated and characterized from brains of both H. zea (Hez-PBAN) (Raina et al. 1989a) and Bombyx mori (Bom-PBAN I) (Kitamura et al. 1989) as a 33-amino-acid peptide with an ami-dated carboxyl terminal portion. An 80% primary sequence homology occurs between these two peptides. Subsequently, another pheromonotropic peptide (Bom-PBAN II) was isolated also from B. mori (Kitamura et al. 1990), which differs from Bom-PBAN I by an additional Arg-residue at the N-terminus. Recently, another pheromonotropic peptide with 18 amino acid residues has been found in Pseudaletia separata (Pss-PT) (Matsumoto et al. 1992a). Structure—activity studies revealed that the C-terminal portion of PBAN is crucial for eliciting biological activity, whereas the corresponding N-terminal portion is essential for achieving full potency (Kitamura et al. 1989; Raina and Kempe 1990).