Hydrocarbons ("waxes") play critical roles in preventing water loss and in penetration of chemicals, including insecticides, through the insect cuticle. In the German cockroach, a female sex pheromone is derived from a hydrocarbon biosynthetic pathway. The results of Dr. Schal's laboratory from a previous NSF grant award have challenged the paradigm that hydrocarbons are transported directly from the oenocytes, which synthesize them, to the epicuticle. Rather, the PI has shown that that cuticular lipids are transported from the oenocytes by a blood protein to storage and deposition sites. His long-range goals are to understand the dynamics and regulation of hydrocarbon transport through the blood and to apply this information towards the development of new tactics of insect control. The PI's specific research objectives are: (1) Document hydrocarbon uptake by lipophorin, a blood protein, from oenocytes, midgut, and fat body; (2) Characterize the mechanisms of hydrocarbon deposition by lipophorin in the integument, fat body, and ovary; and (3) Test the dynamic nature of hydrocarbon transport during development and reproduction. This proposal is of basic biological value, elucidating the dynamics of lipid production and transport in a model insect. Moreover, it will provide an in-depth understanding of mechanisms of hydrocarbon transport in the German cockroach, an important pest of tremendous impact to society.
