Date of Award

Spring 1981

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Biological Sciences

Program/Concentration

Biology

Committee Director

Daniel E. Sonenshine

Committee Member

P. J. Homsher

Committee Member

S. B. Ackerman

Committee Member

L. Wolfinbarger, Jr.

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.B46 G349

Abstract

The Rocky Mountain wood tick, Dermacentor andersoni Stiles, injected with (u-14c) sodium acetate or DL-(benzene ring-u-14c) tryptophan for in vivo studies, was found to produce sex pheromone, 2,6-dichlorophenol, containing 14c activity. Ambiguous results were obtained with L-(u- 14c) tyrosine, and no incorporation of 14c label into pheromone was observed with DL-(ring-u- 14c) phenylalanine or DL-(side chain-3-14c) tyrosine. Attempts were made to determine the site of synthesis, but in vitro studies proved inconclusive.

Disruption of sex pheromone activity in D. andersoni and the American dog tick, D. variabilis (Say) was achieved with injections of the quinones p-benzoquinone or menadione, sodium salt, into female ticks. In other experiments, females were allowed to attach to rabbits receiving doses of menadione, sodium salt, orally; a decrease in sex pheromone activity was observed with D. andersoni but not with D. variabilis. Histochemical studies and electron microscopy indicate a decrease in the amount of lipid present in the foveal glands. Elemental analysis of glands from p-benzoquinone treated D. variabilis females indicated higher concentrations of chlorine than was present in glands from untreated ticks.

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DOI

10.25777/trh2-g044

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