Circadian Mechanism Controlling Rhythmic Release of Sperm from the Insect Testis.

害虫对方便杀虫剂的抗药性日益增强，以及公众对环境污染的关注，迫使人们寻求有效和安全的害虫控制方法。未来的希望在于通过探索和利用昆虫特有的生化和生理过程来设计新的选择性昆虫控制方法。为了实现这一目标，吉布尔托维奇博士正在研究当受到干扰时会导致雄蛾不育的生理过程。她发现并研究了吉普赛蛾精子从睾丸释放的节律和生殖道的节律分泌活动。这些节律是睾丸后精子成熟所必需的，它们的破坏会导致雄性不育昆虫。精子释放的时间由位于睾丸中的生物时钟控制，在体外培养的睾丸中，有节奏的精子释放持续存在。这一发现为识别和研究与精子成熟相关的节律的分子相关性提供了一个独特的机会。参与精子释放昼夜节律的蛋白质将通过电泳法分离蛋白质、产生抗血清以及随后研究特定蛋白质在有节奏的精子释放中的作用来表征。蛋白质的分离和纯化将为解决昆虫中控制精子有节奏释放的生物时钟的分子基础迈出第一步。对选定的蛋白质进行部分测序和合成特定的多肽，可能会导致分离和鉴定参与控制精子释放机制的基因。在未来，她计划克隆这样的基因，并尝试使用害虫特有的杆状病毒将它们引入昆虫，这种杆状病毒对其他生物无害。通过这种方式，精子的释放可能会被扰乱，田间的害虫蛾将变得不育。//

The increasing resistance of pest insects to convenional insecticides and public concern about environmental contamination mandate the search for effective and safe pest control methods. One hope for the future depends on designing new selective methods of insect control by exploration and exploitation of those biochemical and physiological processes which are unique to insects. In an effort toward this goal Dr. Giebultowicz is studying physiological processes which, when disrupted, cause sterility in male moths. She has discovered and investigated the rhythms of sperm release from the testis and rhythmic secretory activity in the reproductive tract of the gypsy moth. These rhythms are necessary for post- testicular sperm maturation and their disruption results in sterile insect males. Timing of sperm release is controlled by a biological "clock" located in the testis and that rhythmic sperm release persists in testis cultured in vitro. This finding provide a unique opportunity to identify and study molecular correlates of the rythms associated with sperm maturation. Proteins involved in the circadian rhythm of sperm release will be characterize by electrophoretic protein separation, generation of antisera and subsequent investigation of the role of specific proteins in the rhythmic sperm release. Separation and purification of proteins would provide a first step toward resolving molecular basis for biological clock controlling rhythmic release of sperm in insects. Partial sequencing of selected proteins and synthesis of specific peptides might lead to the isolation and identification of genes involved in the mechanism controlling sperm release. In future, she plans to clone such genes and to attempt introducing them into insects using pest-specific baculoviruses which are harmless to other living organisms. In this way sperm release could be disrupted and pest moths in the field would become sterile.//