Pheromone transport cockroaches

The site of pheromone production in flies and cockroaches that utilize hydrocarbons is similar to that of the moths. Oenocyte cells produce the hydrocarbon pheromone which is transported by lipophorin in the hemolymph to epidermal cells throughout the body for release from the cuticular surface in general [20,21]. 

Gu, X., Quilici, D., Juarez, P, Blomquist, G. J. and Schal, C. (1995). Biosynthesis of hydrocarbons and contact sex pheromone and their transport by lipophorin in females of the German cockroach (Blattella germanica). Journal of Insect Physiology 41 257-267. 

Schal, C., Fan, Y. and Blomquist, G. J. (2003). Regulation of pheromone biosynthesis, transport, and emission in cockroaches. In Insect Pheromones Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, eds. G. J. Blomquist and R. Vogt, pp. 283-322. New York Academic Press. 

In contrast, the hydrocarbon contact sex pheromone of the German cockroach is synthesized in Class II oenocytes associated with the abdominal stemites (Young et al., 1999 Fan et al., 2002). These large oenocytes, ranging up to 50 p in in diameter in B. germanica, have abundant mitochondria and extensive smooth endoplasmic reticulum (Fan et al., 2002). Although the oenocytes are associated with abdominal stemites, the hydrocarbons are released into the hemolymph and loaded, probably across a plasma membrane reticular system, into high-density lipophorin. The lipophorin then likely transports the hydrocarbon to epidermal cells for release onto the cuticle (Fan et al., 2002). 

Regulation of pheromone biosynthesis, transport, and emission in cockroaches... 

Transport of pheromones. Two major routes for translocation of pheromones have been considered in this chapter (a) from the secretory cell directly through the cuticle overlying it and (b) indirectly through the hemolymph. Cockroaches share with even the most studied lepidopterans an almost complete lack of information on the former pathway. Transport of hydrocarbons and contact sex pheromones, on the other hand, has been extensively studied in cockroaches, commencing with the work of Chino and colleagues. It has... 

In 1981, the pheromone binding protein (PBP) and sensilla esterase (SE) of Antheraea polyphemus were identified [44] and in 1985 a new model for pheromone detection was proposed, in opposition to the previous model. In this model, PBPs transported pheromone to receptor proteins (replacing pore-tubules in this role) and SE rapidly inactivated pheromone by enzymatic degradation [45]. PBPs have become established as only a subclass of a much larger family of insect OBPs that are represented at least throughout the neopterous insects, from cockroach to honeybee. 

An additional aspect of the vertical distribution of pheromone has been considered by Schal (1982). The odor dispersion models discussed in this chapter all assume that the mean wind flow is horizontal. The occurrence of buoyant or convective transport of odors is treated by increasing the rate of dispersion to that characteristic of unstable conditions. On the relatively small scale of odor communication this description may not be adequate. Schal demonstrated that air currents at night beneath a Costa Rican rain forest move predominantly upward in response to a substantial lapse rate. He found that male cockroaches of various species positioned themselves in trees at levels above that of pheromone producing females of the same species. 

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