Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) Observations of Female Oocytes from Nilaparvata lugens (Hemiptera: Delphacidae): Antibiotic Jinggangmycin (JGM)-Induced Stimulation of Reproduction and Associated Changes in Hormone Levels

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated that the agricultural antibiotic jinggangmycin (JGM) stimulates reproduction in the brown planthopper Nilaparvata lugens Stål and that the stimulation of brown planthopper reproduction induced by JGM is regulated by the fatty acid synthase (FAS) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) genes. However, a key issue in the stimulation of reproduction induced by pesticides involves the growth and development of oocytes. Therefore, the present study investigated oocyte changes via transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and changes in hormone levels (juvenile hormones (JH) and 20-hydroxyecdysone (20 E)) in JGM-treated females. TEM observations showed that the size of the lipid droplets in the oocytes of JGM-treated females, compared with those in the oocytes of the control females, significantly reduced by 32.6 and 29.8% at 1 and 2 d after emergence (1 and 2 DAE), respectively. In addition, the JH levels of JGM-treated females at 1 and 2 DAE were increased by 49.7 and 45.7%, respectively, whereas 20 E levels decreased by 36.0 and 30.0%, respectively. We conclude that JGM treatments lead to substantial changes in lipid metabolism, which are directly and indirectly related to stimulation of reproduction of brown planthopper together with our previous findings.