ENDOCRINOLOGY OF MOSQUITO REPRODUCTION: Several million people around the world are infected with parasites that are carried by mosquitoes, and hundreds of thousands, especially children, die each year from the effects of such parasites. These parasites develop and divide only in female mosquitoes, which require a blood meal for egg maturation, and the inoculum of infection for mosquitoes and humans is the blood meal. Our research focuses on the hormonal regulation of reproduction in female mosquitoes and contributes to a fundamental understanding of the interaction between mosquitoes and their parasites.
REGULATION OF DIGESTION AND METABOLISM IN INSECT PESTS: THE MIDGUT ENDOCRINE SYSTEM
Insect pests of humans and their animals and plants increasingly grow resistant to chemical controls, thus exacting greater control costs. Most chemical agents used for pest control target the nervous system. Alternative targets must be divined for pest control in the future. The midgut endocrine system of insects is an important source of peptide hormones presumed to regulate digestion and metabolism in the same ways as the gut endocrine system in humans. Our goals are to identify midgut peptides in the corn earworm and termite that regulate appetite, digestion, and metabolism. Once their structure is known, potent chemical mimics can be designed for environmental and enzymatic stability and applied with traditional methods or in genetically engineered hosts to interfere with the feeding and growth of insect pests.
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neuroendocrinology, reproduction, peptide hormone, ovary, insulin, steriods, gonadotropin, peptide receptors, Neuropeptide Y, Signal transduction
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