Precocious induction of vitellogenin with JH III in the twospotted stink bug, Perillus bioculatus (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae)

The effect of juvenile hormone (JH) III on the hemolymph composition of vitellogenin was examined in Perillus bioculatus. Adult females were treated topically with JH III, and the premature presence of vitellogenin in the hemolymph was then detected using electrophoresis and Western blot analyses. JH III treatment resulted in a dose-dependent early production of vitellogenin that was detectable 48 h before vitellogenin was present in non-treated insects. Vitellogenin was not observed in the hemolymph of JH III-treated adult males. The techniques reported here may be useful for the detection, isolation and characterization of compounds with JH-like activity in P. bioculatus and other species of Heteroptera (which are thought to have JH-like substances other than the JHs with known chemical identity). These same techniques may also provide a method for researchers to investigate the interactions of JH-like compounds and other substances, such as ecdysteroid, in the regulation of vitellogenesis in Heteroptera.