DefinePK

Abstract

ABSTRACT Diapause offers a series of physiological changes to sustain the successful existence of insects under adverse environmental conditions. To synchronize with the environmental changes, insects suppress their reproductive development and store a large quantity of energy reserves to meet the energy demands during diapause period. However, the differences in the energy reserves in diapausing and pre-reproductive insects remain to  be understood. With this aim , we compared the major energy nutrient reserves between the pre-diapause and pre-reproductive adult females. In this study, we measured the total lipids, triglyceride (TG), glycogen and the total protein contents in pre-diapause and pre-reproductive adult females of the  Riptortus  pedestris. Moreover, we also compared the fresh and dry weights, and the water content retained by pre-diapause and pre-reproductive females. The results indicated that the weights in both groups of females were increased over the time period of adult emergence, while water content remained significantly high in pre-reproductive adult females. The pre-diapause females stored more reserves of the total lipids, triglyceride and glycogen contents to maintain the diapause period whereas , the pre-reproductive females increased the total protein contents to mature their reproductive development. These findings suggested that the different mechanisms are involved in regulating the developments of pre-diapause and pre-reproductive females , which provide the basic knowledge for further molecular research on these mechanisms in insects.