Sharp Lip Reticulitermes Spermatogenesis The Study

Reticulitermes aculabialis (Isoptera:Rhinotermitidae) is a typical social insects, The groups exist in a number of different forms of individual types, each form has its different functions, strict division of labor, coordination of life, known as the caste differentiation. The caste of Reticulitermes aculabialis could differentiate into reproductives, soldiers and workers. Non-reproductive can be transformed into reproductive when the loss of the original reproductives, workers will grow into the supplemented reproductives and it would effectively promote the development and the social groups of termites continue. Reticulitermes aculabialis play an important role in food-chain. It consumes 1/3 organics almost on the earth every year, and give up CO2 and CH4. Termite destroys many fields such as agricultural, forestry, water and else. At present, castes differentiation, spermatogenesis, androgen receptor-like and the immediate early-gene c-fos regulation of gonadal development and germ cell of termites were investigated by histology, cytology and immunohistochemistry methods for probing into molecular regulation. The main results are as follow:1. The results showed that there was a great difference of spermatic development of these three characters, The relative spermatic area of queen is 1.7 times the workers'and 29.3 times the soldiers', the workers'is 17.1 times the soldiers'.However, a large number of secondary spermatocytes of worker were presenting at apoptosis, sperm were given birth to spermatic tubules both in workers and male queens and they all included spermatogonium, primary spermatocyte, secondary spermatocyte, sperm cell and sperm stage. The spermatogenesis of solider only had the spermatogonium, primary spermatocyte and secondary spermatocyte stage and did not have the sperm cell and sperm. And the germ cells of male queen are Significantly greater than workers'(P<0.05) and soldiers'(P<0.01)at the same stage. These results would provide the evidence that the differentiation of reproductive functions are related to the development of germ cell on the histology, and these also showed that the worker had the potential of developping into male queen and soldier; but the soldier did not have this potential and could not develop into the other character because of the extreme degeneration of it's sex gland.2. The AR existed in the cytoplasm and the nucleus of primary spermatocyte both in the spermatogenesis of reproductives and workers; there was a lower expression in workers than in reproductives. The results indicated that the expression of AR is related to the meiosis of primary spermatocytes during the spermatogenesis, AR and AR-like changed the spermatogenesis by regulating the first meiosis of spermatocytes. Although the spermary development of workers is restrained, they have the same mechanism of hormonal regulation of spermatogenesis and it's keeping as the reproductives, and give bith to sperm. These results would provide the evidence on the histology for the explanation of workers could turn into reprodutives according to the demand of the termite colony, even though the gonad of woker is degenerated.3. Proto-oncogenes products such as c-fos protein(Fos)play a central role in the regulation of cellular growth and differentiation. The role of Fos in the regulation of germ cell progression during spermatogenesis has been studied in vertebrate, but little is known about the expression and role of Fos during spermatogenesis in insect. To identify c-fos protein activity in the testis of termites during spermatogenesis and the difference of Fos expression in reproductives and workers, immunocytochemical localization of Fos was investigated in the testis of termite Reticulitermes aculabialis. The results showed c-fos-like protein(Fos-like) immunopositive substance was localized in spermatogonia nuclei of reproductive adults, no immunoreactivity for Fos-like was detected in last instar nymphs and workers during their spermatogenesis. We conclude that the spermatogenesis is affected by Fos-like directly regulating spermatogonia proliferation to form sufficient spermatozoa for fertilization. On the other hand, according to no expression of Fos-like, the workers and the last star nymphs have the same degree of gonadal development which their testis are immature or inhibited. Fos-like expression in the spermatogonia is a sign of full maturation of testes, which may be one of reasons that lead to differences in the reproductive capacity of workers and reproductives.In the conclusion, studies on the spermatogenesis of regulation in Reticulitermes aculabialis have revealed that the workers and soldiers are infertility because of the structural basis and molecular modulation mechanisms at the level of molecular and histological. But workers can turn into reproductives according the demand of the termite colony because it has the potential of structural basis, at the same time the molecular modulation mechanisms also has changed. These studies supported theory evidence for termite control.