EAPSI: Adapting Japanese silkmoth rearing techniques to answer evolutionary questions

Mongue Andrew J, Lawrence KS

Investigators

Abstract

The reproductive biology of butterflies and moths differs from many other animals for reasons that remain unclear. These insects make vast quantities of sperm with no DNA which cannot possibly fertilize eggs. Such cells appear to be a waste of resources, and thus should be removed by natural selection, but they have not been. This award supports a collaboration with Dr. Hideki Sezutsu of the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences in Japan to learn Japanese silkmoth breeding techniques practiced nowhere else that can address this mystery. Experiments will be conducted in the Suzetsu lab on silkmoths and results will be confirmed in the United States with native butterflies and moths. Insights gained will contribute to an important theoretical discussion in reproductive biology and may be applied to aid conservation of agriculturally important pollinators. Japanese researchers have developed protocols for artificial insemination in silkmoths. This technique will allow the researcher to vary the amount and kind of sperm female silkmoths receive. Under the hypothesis that DNA-lacking sperm have a functional role, their absence in an insemination should negatively impact the fertility of a female?s eggs. Insight gained from this experiment will be used to more thoroughly test hypotheses for the function of this novel sperm type in other moths and butterflies and the researcher will share these techniques with other domestic insect biologists to advance open new avenues for work in the field of reproductive biology. This NSF EAPSI award is a fellowship to a U.S. graduate student and is funded in collaboration with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.