The pine engraver beetle Ips pini (Say) is a significant pest of North American coniferous forests. The male is the pioneering sex and uses an aggregation pheromone to attract conspecifics to a host tree. Upon feeding, and regulated by juvenile hormone III (JH), the pheromone component ipsdienol is biosynthesized de novo via the mevalonate pathway in the male midgut. Identifying and characterizing genes in the midgut that respond to JH treatment or feeding may yield the mode of JH action as well as targets for novel pest management strategies. To identify responsive genes, cDNA microarrays were prepared representing unique genes previously identified in an EST project of the midguts of JH-treated males. These microarrays were hybridized with fluorescently labeled cDNA from midgut tissue of fed, JH-treated, or control beetles. Replicated hybridizations, verified by real-time and semiquantitative RT-PCR, identified several genes that were significantly regulated by JH or feeding. Some of these were known mevalonate pathway genes, other known genes, and unknown genes. Characterization of these candidate genes is now in progress.
Species 1: Coleoptera Scolytidae Ips pini (pine engraver)
Keywords: juvenile hormone, pheromone biosynthesis
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