"Juvenile Hormone Activity for the Bug, Pyrrhocoris apterus:"
When transported from Prague to Boston and reared in the Biological
Laboratory at Harvard University, the bug P. apterus failed to undergo
normal metamorphosis... Without exception, all individuals died without
completting metamorphosis or attining sexual maturity.
During the ten years of culturing P. apterus in Prague, not a single
instance of this sort had been observed...An audit of rearing conditions at
Harvard vs. Prague suggested 15 differences. Bt systematic study, 14 were
eliminated. The source of juvenile hormone activity was finally tracked down
to exposure of the bugs to a certain paper towel("Scott, brand 150") which
had been placed in the rearing jars. When towleing was replaced by Whatman's
filter paper, the entire phenomenon disappeared and all individuals
developed normally.
Evidently the substantial juvenile hormone activity in American paper
products is mainly derived fron the indigenous American pulp tree, the
balsam fir(Abies balsamea).
We were astonished to find that our most active extracts were without any
detectable effect when injected, topically applied to previously chilled
pupae of cecropia or polyphemous silkworms -- even when they were tested in
the ultra-senstitive wax-wound assay for juvenile hormone....What this
implies is that molecules with juvenile hormone acting for one species of
insect are not necessarily active for another. The detailed chemistry during
the millions of years of insect evolution...has diversified. The scant
sensitivity of P. apterus to cecropia or polyphemus hormone documents the
fact, and shows, moreover, that the evolution of the hormone has been
accompanied by the biochemical "returning" of the receptor mechanism at the
cellular level."
(Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA,(1965)54:411)
If one could see the structure of the juvenile hormone and compare it with
the structure-activity relationship of the compounds that speed up
glycosylation of HBV replication, one would immediately understand their
implications. There is a curious resonance here with christian youth groups
who meet to pledge sexual purity. The Chinese have also offered their paper
on increased glycosylation of HBV, and in that paper, they also offer a
graphic representation of the molecule, which also differs very little from
the active site of juvenile hormone activity. Therefore, the Chinese also
know of this symbology that is apparent to those familiar with chemistry,
and also shows how they have non-chalantly reached for a traditional
medicinal plant rather than the technics of science, thereby stripping it of
some of its credibility. I would not doubt that more than one Chinese got a
laugh out of it.
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at
http://www.hotmail.com.
Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at
http://profiles.msn.com.
