Studies on insect instinct behavior, selection of larval food.

蝴蝶是如何在幼虫赖以生存的植物叶片上产卵的？一只凤蝶用前腿尖鼓着一片“mikan”叶子，感觉毛识别叶子中含有的“产卵刺激物”。我们已经能够显示兴奋的感觉毛产卵兴奋剂所造成的尖端记录方法。在电子显微镜下观察了感觉毛的细微结构。一根头发含有5个神经细胞，其中一个是机械感觉细胞。四个神经细胞延伸出一个长长的轴突，一直延伸到头发的尖端。从300只蝴蝶的前肢顶端提取总RNA，制备cDNA文库。经核苷酸序列测定，两个克隆与细胞膜受体cDNA同源，进一步的工作正在进行中。C_<17>H_<20>O_9，6-（beta-D-吡喃葡萄糖基氧基）-苯并呋喃丙酸（benzofuranpropionic acid，C_H_O_9，6-（beta-D-glucopyranosyloxy）-benzofuranpropionic acid，BFA）是一种重要的蝴蝶产卵刺激剂。目前正在进行的工作是测试幼虫的食物是否会影响后代对猎物的选择。

How does a butterfly lay eggs onto the plant leaf on which the larvae depend? A Papilio butterfly drums a "mikan" leaf with foreleg tips and the sensory hairs recognize "oviposition stimulants" contained in the leaf. We have been able to show excitation of the sensory hair caused by oviposition stimulants using a tip recording method. Also the fine structure of the sensory hair was observed under an electron microscope. A hair contained 5 nerve cells one of which was a mechanical sensory cell. Four nerve cells extended a long axon up to the tip of the hair. A total RNA was extracted form the foreleg tips of 300 butterflies and cDNA library was prepared. After nucleotide sequencing, two clones turned out to be homologous to cell membrane-located receptor cDNA.A further work is in progress. C_<17>H_<20>O_9,6- (beta-D-glucopyranosyloxy) -benzofuranpropionic acid isolated from leaves of Orixa japonica was identified as an oviposition situmulant of the butterfly, Papolio macilentus.Nesting in a cage was first successful for a hunting wasp, Anterhynchium flavomarginatum micado. Now work is in progress to test whether a larval food influences choice of prey for offspring or not.