In the monarch butterfly the juvenile hormone effect upon immune response depends on the immune marker and is sex dependent

Guadalupe Villanueva, Humberto Lanz-Mendoza, Salvador Hernández-Martínez, Minerva Sánchez Zavaleta, Javier Manjarrez, José M. Contreras-Garduño, Jorge Contreras-Garduño

Center of Research in Biotic Resources, Autonomous University of Mexico State, Toluca, México.
Center of Research in Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, México.
Department of Biology, University of Guanajuato, Guanajuato, México.
Institute of Ecology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, México City, México.

DOI: 10.4236/oje.2013.31007                

Abstract

In insects, juvenile hormone (JH) decreases or has any effect upon the phenoloxidase (PO) activity, and favors or decreases the Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs) expression. Although there is no information about the differential effect of such hormone, two possibilities are that it depends on (a) the immune marker recorded and (b) sexual differences. Here, three commonly used immune markers, Phenoloxidase (PO), hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), and lytic activity, were measured 3, 6 and 24 hours after administration of methoprene (JHa, an analog of juvenile hormone) in male and female monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus). At 3 and 6 h post-JHa administration, the PO activity increased in females but it only increased at 3 h in males, whereas H₂O₂ levels increased only in females at 3 h. For the remaining times the JHa had a null effect on POand H₂O₂. On the other hand, the JHa had a null effect for lytic activity in both sexes at 3, 6 and 24 h. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a positive effect of a JHa onPOand H₂O₂ and suggests that this effect is sex dependent.

Keywords

Immune Response; Life History; Juvenile Hormone; Reproductive Diapause; Nitric Oxide

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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