Comparative studies of oxidative enzyme systems in epidermis and fat body of diapausing and non-diapausing silkmoths

Abstract

The activities of four oxidative enzyme systems, including NADH oxidase, succinate-cytochrome c reductase, NADH-cytochrome c reductase, and cytochrome c oxidase, were compared in mitochondrial-microsomal preparations from wing epidermis and fat body of diapausing Samia cynthia pupae, presumptively non-diapausing S. cynthia ricini pupae which were caused to diapause by removal of the brain, and non-diapausing S. cynthia ricini during the pupal and pharate adult period. In diapausing pupae the activities of all enzyme systems were low and presented a profile similar to that previously reported for the Cecropia silkmoth. By contrast, in non-diapausing individuals the activities showed substantially higher levels, and an essentially unchanging pattern from just after the larval-pupal ecdysis through most of adult development. These events are functionally correlated with the patterns of biosynthetic activity in diapausing and non-diapausing silkmoths and are discussed in relation to the endocrine control of diapause and development.