Vitellogenin is a female-specific glucolipoprotein yolk precursor produced by all oviparous animals. Vitellogenin expression is under hormonal control, and the protein is generally synthesized directly before yolk deposition. In the honeybee (Apis mellifera), vitellogenin is not only synthesized by the reproductive queen, but also by the functionally sterile workers. In summer, the worker popul...

1. Oestrogen treatment has previously been shown to induce the formation of large amounts of a serum protein, vitellogenin (xenoprotein), in Xenopus laevis. Vitellogenin was purified from serum by dimethylformamide precipitation and was shown to be homogeneous by a variety of electrophoretic techniques. 2. The molecular weight of vitellogenin was estimated by gel filtration to be about 6x10(5)....

Fish oogenesis represents pleiotropic cytodifferentiative programs including hepatic synthesis of the molecular components for both the eggshell and the oocytic energy deposits. Both hepatic processes are directly controlled by plasma levels of estradiol (E2), and injected E2 induces both biogenetic processes in prepubertal fish of both sexes. This work compares the temporal pattern of E2-induc...

The effect of juvenile hormone (JH) III on the hemolymph composition of vitellogenin was examined in Perillus bioculatus. Adult females were treated topically with JH III, and the premature presence of vitellogenin in the hemolymph was then detected using electrophoresis and Western blot analyses. JH III treatment resulted in a dose-dependent early production of vitellogenin that was detectable...

this study was conducted to reveal the estrogenic effects of bisphenol a and o, p’-ddt on quailembryos. thirteen fertilized eggs were used as control (injected with 20 μl corn oil), 15 eggs were injectedwith estradiol 17β (0.04 mg dissolved in 20 μl corn oil), 20 eggs were injected with bpa (2 mg dissolved in20 μl corn oil) and 20 eggs were injected with o, p’-ddt (2 mg dissolved in 20 μl corn ...

Wastewater treatment plant effluents contain a variety of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), including with estrogenic activity such as 17β-estradiol (E2), 17α-ethinyl estradiol (EE2), and nonylphenols. These substances can affect both behavior physiology in vertebrate animals. To explore the presence effects these EDCs natural setting, juvenile adult male fathead minnows, Pimephales promel...

Honey bees as other insects rely on the innate immune system for protection against diseases. The innate immune system includes the circulating hemocytes (immune cells) that clear pathogens from hemolymph (blood) by phagocytosis, nodulation or encapsulation. Honey bee hemocyte numbers have been linked to hemolymph levels of vitellogenin. Vitellogenin is a multifunctional protein with immune-sup...

This paper investigates vitellogenin synthesis in the fat body of the female marine crustacean Isopoda, Idotea balthica basteri, during vitellogenesis. The fat bodies were incubated in a labelled medium; one of the samples was treated with an antiserum against vitellogenin and the antigen-antibody complex counted for radioactivity. We assumed this radioactivity to be due to vitellogenin synthes...

Insect immune systems can recognize specific pathogens and prime offspring immunity. High specificity of immune priming can be achieved when insect females transfer immune elicitors into developing oocytes. The molecular mechanism behind this transfer has been a mystery. Here, we establish that the egg-yolk protein vitellogenin is the carrier of immune elicitors. Using the honey bee, Apis melli...

Vitellogenin, a yolk protein produced in the liver of oviparous animals in response to estrogens, normally occurs only in sexually mature females with developing eggs. However, males can synthesize vitellogenin when exposed to environmental estrogens, making the abnormal production of vitellogenin in male animals a useful biomarker for xenoestrogen exposure. In 1997-2001, as part of the Washing...