Neural regulation of sex pheromone biosynthesis in Heliothis moths

Pheromone biosynthesis in females of Heliothis zea is regulated endogenously by a neuropeptide produced in the subesophageal ganglion. We have found that the ventral nerve cord must be intact for normal induction of pheromone biosynthesis and that pheromonotropic activity is associated with extracts of the abdominal nerve cord, but only during the period when pheromone is produced. We did not find evidence of pheromonotropic activity in hemolymph obtained from females that were producing pheromone. Extracts of the brain-subesophageal ganglion complex, which contain pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide (PBAN), induced pheromone biosynthesis when applied to the terminal abdominal ganglion only if nerves from this ganglion to the pheromone gland were intact. Brain-subesophageal ganglion extracts did not induce biosynthesis when applied directly to the pheromone glands in vitro. From our results, we conclude that the target site of PBAN is not the pheromone gland but the terminal abdominal ganglion, and we hypothesize that the abdominal nerve cord transports PBAN to the terminal abdominal ganglion.