HISTORY AND TRENDS ININSECT PHYSIOLOGY

Insect Physiology Oscar Awards for:

LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARDSBest system for studying feeding a. Vince Dethier using blowfly b. Reg Chapman using locust c. Louie Schoonhoven using Colorado potato beetleBest system for studying molting a. V. Wigglesworth using Rhodnius b. Lynn Riddiford using tobacco hornworm c. Carroll Williams using cecropia moth

WHO DEVELOPS WHAT WECALL THE SCIENCE OFINSECT PHYSIOLOGY?

• SCIENTISTS

Scientists & topics in insect physiology1. 1934-Wigglesworth textbook appears-The Principles of Insect

Physiology-9 editions of this book2. 1953-Roeder’s edited book-Insect Physiology3. 1963-Beament, Treherne & Wigglesworth start the series,

Advances in Insect Physiology. 2003 is the 31st volume4. 1964-Rockstein’s edited series-3 vols.-The Physiology of Insecta5. 1969-Chapman’s textbook appears-The Insects-Structure and

Function. American Elsevier, N.Y.6. 1973-Rockstein’s update series-7 vols.-The Physiology of Insecta7. 1980-Mordue, Goldsworthy, Brady and Blaney. Insect Physiology text in

paperback. John Wiley & Sons, N.Y.8. 1984-Wigglesworth’s paperback textbook. Insect Physiology,

Chapman and Hall, N.Y.9. 1985-Kerkut and Gilbert series-13 vols.-Comprehensive Insect

Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology. Pergamon Press, N.Y.

10. 2002-Klowden’s textbook. Physiological Systems in Insects, Academic Press, N.Y.

11. 2004-Gilbert, L.I. (ed.). 2004. Comprehensive molecular insect science, 7 vols.Elsevier Pergamon, St. Louis, MO

Where are the women?

• Lynn Riddiford-Carroll William’s student• Judy Willis• Anne Fallon• Barbara Stay-Carroll William’s student

Vincent B. WigglesworthFather of Insect Physiology

Wrote the first book oninsect phsyiology in 1939.

The Principles of InsectPhysiology. Methuen &Co., New York

Also known as ‘VBW’Areas he contributed to:1. Respiration in insect eggs2. Molting3. Cuticle4. Every topic in insect

physiology

Wigglesworth did the classicalexperiment showing that JH couldkeep the epidermal cellsfrom producing an adult cuticleat the last nymphal to adult moltin Rhodnius prolixus, commonlyknown as the kissing bug. Hisresearch animal was mainly thisinsect.

He was also a genius atdoing simple experiments.Here he demonstrates thatthe brain hormone essentialin the molt and which isreleased after blood feedingpasses through the tube, thusit is hemolymph borne and ahormone.

Parabiosis of 2 Rhodnius nymphs

In the last nymphal instar cuticle of Rhodnius, the cuticle shows dimplingwhile in the adult, the cuticle is smooth. By using a paint brush and JH,Wigglesworth wrote his name using JH and showed that at that molt, ifthe epidermal cells ‘saw’ JH they would produce a nymphal cuticle.

Was a student of A.G. Richardswho was in the Dept. ofEntomology at the Univ. ofMinnesota. Rockstein became aProfessor at the Univ. of Miamiin Florida and focused hisresearch on Aging in Insects. Heencouraged me to write my granton aging chemoreceptors inPhormia, which I received fromthe National Institute of Agingand a newly created agency. Hewas in the heart of the agedcommunity in Florida.His research was on house flyaging. He edited the twicepublished series “The Physiologyof Insects.”

Morris ‘rocky’ Rockstein

Reg Chapman was a distinguishedProfessor in England. Later he becamea director at the Centre for OverseasPest Research in London where heresearched the role of various factorson feeding behavior in the desertlocust, Locusta migratoria. Why a lab.in London’s center on locusts?He became very active in research andtopics concerning insect-plantinteractions. He and his wife, LizBernays, wrote the book, Host-plantselection by phytophagous insects in1994. He and Liz left England andjoined the faculty at Berkeley. Later,both moved to the Insect ScienceGroup at the Univ. of Arizona inTucson.

Chapman is known for his books,The Insects-structure andfunction.4th edition, 1998. Reggie died in2003. I spent my first sabbaticalin London with he and Liz.

Vincent Gaston Dethier “the fly man”

‘Vince’ was in the group that mademajor impacts on insect physiology. Hewas with the same age group as othergiants in the field, such as CarrollWilliams, Ken Roeder, Stanley Beck,Jan deWilde. He was a little youngerthan Wigglesworth. Dethier made hisfame in developing Phormia regina asthe model system for studies designedto elucidate the factors involved inregulating feeding in insects. He wasextremely clever in understanding thehot topics in human behavior and thenapplied the same questions to his fly. Idid a postdoc. with Dethier when hewas at Princeton. He then came toUmass and died here. He is known forhis book “To Know a Fly.”

The deceased entomologist, Professor Jan de Wilde has been voted Greatest Wageninger inthe poll organised by Wb. The charismatic professor De Wilde (1916-1983) was a pioneer inbiological pest control, and set up the Entomology department in Wageningen. De Wildereceived 264 of the 740 votes.

Dethier or de Wilde-Effects of diapause on feeding in Phormia regina

De Wilde was a pioneer in the field of insect diapause. He used the Colorado potato beetle as his model system. I visited Wageningen tosee if I would do my postdoc with de Wilde or Dethier. I rememberhaving lunch with he and his student, Louie Schoonhoven. As wewalked back to the lab. de Wilde took off into a field because hesmelled something in bloom. He also was involved in research oninsect/plant interactions. Schoonhoven became involved in usingelectrophysiological techniques to look at various plant compoundson insect gustation.

Carroll Williams was a giantin the field of insect physiology.He was a master at devisingunique techniques to study howhormones travel from the siteof production to their target siteand was a master at promoting hisscience to the general public. Inthe 1950’s he characterized JHand was co-discoverer of the‘paper factor’, which ultimatelyled to the formation of Zoeconand the idea of Third GenerationPesticides. He produced somegiants in the field such as HowardSchneiderman who later becamepresident of Monsanto, LynnRiddiford, and Fotis Kafatos.

Williams told his students never tobecome involved in writing books

because it took too much time awayfrom research. I knew him well and I

played tennis in Hartford witha heart specialist who said Williams

was the brightest in all of the studentsin med school. TELL GRADUATION

STORY

Williams used Cecropia for most of his research on insect hormonesand endocrine glands. The larva are about 4 inches long while thepupa is the size of a small chicken egg. Why do people pick certainmodel systems over others?

These ingenious experimentswere not only clever but werewritten up in Life magazine.The pupa on the left nevermolted into an adult because themovement of the ball injuredthe epidermal cells that grewonto the glass tube producing awounding factor that preventedmolting. The 2nd one shows thatthe brain hormone stimulatingthe ecdysial glands to produceecdysone, thus the molt, passesthrough the tube into theabdomen. The 3rd shows that thepupa was separated before thehormone was released; in fact, itcould not reach the abdomen.

Karel SlámaFamous insect physiologist fromPrague, Czech Republick. He wasdiscovered by the late Carroll Williamsof Harvard. In 1964 he came to Harvardand he and Williams discovered the‘Paper factor’. The chemical was reallyidentified by William Bowers, achemical ecologists. The chemicalwas juvabione and dihydrojuvabioneand mimicked the action of JH. Thislaunched a major effort in the agrochemicalindustry to find other analogs that couldserve as control agents for insect pests. Itled to the development of Zoecon, in PaloAlto, CA. Pyrrhocoris apterus

was the model system

Photo showing Carroll Williams and JohnLaw packing an extraction tube with brownpaper towels for the extraction of a yellowfluid that contained the JH mimic foundin American evergreen trees, but is lacking inEuropean trees. This photo and the fact thatthe New York Times contained the factorgave Williams a lot of publicity. There is agreat need in science for good scientists to beable to make that important contact with thepublic. In fact, all scientists should learn howto do this. It is the public that supports ourresearch. Law later moved to Univ. ofArizona and continued his work in chemistry.Law gave a talk here at Umass in themolecular/cell biology program several yearsago. After his seminar, someone asked himwhat his research over his career had doneto help control insects. His response was“nothing.”

At the festschrift for Vince Dethier,here at the Univ. of Massachusetts,people from all over the world came tocelebrate his years of research. Thewoman in blue is Carroll William’swife. Next to her in the green is thefamous and wealthy MiriamRothschild who researched insect/plantInteractions, also insect defensiveStrategies. Next to her is CarrollWilliams. Standing is John Kennedy,well known behaviorists, who wrotea wonderful article on “BehaviorAs Physiology”in the 1967 book,Insects and Physiology that wasdedicated to Sir Vincent B.Wigglesworth.

The two men in the front at VinceDethier’s festschrift are on the left,Bob O’Connell who is now at theUniv. of Mass. Medical Schoolin Worcester where he works on theneurobiology of olfaction in bothinsects and vertebrates. Next tohim is John Hildebrand who isone of the best known insectneurobiologists. He is at the Univ.of Arizona in Tucson where he headsthe department of neurobiology andcontinues to research the neurobiologyof olfaction in the tobacco hornworm,Manduca sexta.

This is a photo showing some of theinsect physiologists who were at theWoods Hole meeting that Dr. Yinand I attended. Second row-the manwith the mustache is Steve Tobe whois known for his work on popularizingthe in vitro, radiochemical, JH assay.First row-man in the white shirt isHans Laufer who was at the Univ. ofConn. when I was there and is involvedin hormone research in crabs. Next isJudy Willis (now at North Carolina),Noel Granger and the hard workingand excellent woman physiologist,Lynn Riddiford (Williams student whois at Univ. of Washington in Seattle.She is married to Jim Truman).

Riddiford/Truman couple. This is probablythe most famous couple that has gained greatrecognition in insect physiology. Lynn wasCarroll Williams’ student and Jim did hisPh.D. with George Craig, noted mosquitophysiologists, at Notre Dame. Jim did apostdoc in Williams’ lab. and met Lynn. Wetried to hire them both here but they went tothe Univ. of Washington in Seattle.Lynn is known for her work onmetamorphosis while Jim did excellentresearch in the area of behavioral physiology.Both used the model system of the tobaccohornworm, Manduca sexta, while Williamsused Hyalophora cecropia. Why did Jimand Lynn switch systems?

T.A. Miller

Thomas A. Miller is at the Univ.of California in Riverside andresearches the areas listed below.He was instrumental in puttingtogether the series of books bySpringer-Verlag on varioustechniques used in insect physiology. He also has a websiteon insect physiology that mayprove useful in the course.

•Circulatory system of insects•Physiology of cotton pests•Genetic control of insects•Insect Symbiosis

Photo of Dr. Yin and myself at the JH meetingat Woods Hole. My research interest is mainlyfeeding behavior. I spent a year’s postdoc withDethier (the leading authority on feeding behaviorin flies) and did a sabbatical with Liz and RegChapman in London (the leading lab. for studieson feeding behavior in the locust). The questionthat I often discussed with everyone was “Howdoes nutrition impact egg development ininsects?” It is a well known factor to insectecologists that insects need protein to developeggs; but, no one had connected the path fromfood to the egg. Thus, when Yin replaced HenryHagedorn here in our department, I had acolleague that could do Insect Endocrinology.Thus, we formed a team and discovered the insectmidgut hormone. Dr. Yin also discovered JH III inflies.

Major Research Trends in Insect Physiology• Cuticle• Metamorphosis• Hormones• Blood cells and Immunity• Neuropeptides and Biogenic Amines• Physiology of Reproduction• Photoperiodism and Biological Clocks• Sensory Physiology• Diapause• Nutrition• Genomics• Proteomics

What influences these majortrends in research?

• Major discoveries in the science itself or inthe instrumentation to solve new problems

• Money• Scientists who attempt to solve real world

problems

Cuticle--------------------------------------pesticidesMetamorphosis----------------------------3rd gen pesticidesHormones----------------------------------3rd gen pesticidesBlood cells and Immunity----------------parasites/diseasesNeuropeptides and Biogenic Amines---biorationalsPhysiology of Reproduction-------------chemosterilantsPhotoperiodism and Biological Clocks-physiol. controlSensory Physiology-----------------------pher/traps/repellentsDiapause------------------------------------physiol. controlNutrition------------------------------------insect culturingGenomics-----------------------------------genetic controlProteomics----------------------------------protein involvement

Trends are often driven by a need for better and safer controlstrategies

What drives one’s research focus?

• Purely academic to solve problems with oneorganism or another-no link to organism

• Organism orientation and use it as modelsystem for basic questions

• Follow the money tree for grants• It has been estimated that only 1 out of

every 10 Ph.D.’s will continue to conductresearch following their degree. WHY?

Major model systems in insect physiology

• Desert locust, Locusta migratoria• Queen blowfly, Phormia regina• Cecropia moth, Hyalophora cecropia• Kissing bug, Rhodnius prolixus• Mosquito, Aedes aegypti• Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata• Tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta• Cockroach, Periplaneta americana• Fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster

We will discuss each system with respect to:

1. Structures involved2. How the system functions3. Instrumentation or techniques used4. Major researchers and their experiments5. How information on that system fits into both

basic and applied areas

What insect system is causing many individuals toleave there systems and is having a major impact

on training insect physiologists?

• Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly

Why is this happening?

800,000 to 3 million insect species

• Very few insect model systems are used forthe studies in insect physiology.

• Thus, when we talk about a topic we aremissing a lot of diversity that may exist inthe real world used by insects to solve theproblems they face.

• Recent findings of mucin and possiblebreathing apparatus in insects.

IMPORTANT AND USEFUL WEBSITES:

1. Excellent source of information on Drosophilahttp://www.sdbonline.org/fly/aimain/1aahome.htm