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Procurement of exogenous ammonia by the swallowtail butterfly, Papilio polytes, for protein biosynthesis and sperm production

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Abstract

How to acquire sufficient quantity of nitrogen is a pivotal issue for herbivores, particularly for lepidopterans (butterflies and moths) of which diet quality greatly differs among their life stages. Male Lepidoptera often feed from mud puddles, dung, and carrion, a behavior known as puddling, which is thought to be supplementary feeding targeted chiefly at sodium. During copulation, males transfer a spermatophore to females that contains, besides sperm, nutrients (nuptial gifts) rich in sodium, proteins, and amino acids. However, it is still poorly understood how adults, mostly nectarivores, extract nitrogen from the environment. We examined the availability of two ubiquitous inorganic nitrogenous ions in nature, viz. ammonium (or ammonia) and nitrate ions, as nutrients in a butterfly, and show that exogenous ammonia ingested by adult males of the swallowtail, Papilio polytes, can serve as a resource for protein biosynthesis. Feeding experiments with 15N-labeled ammonium chloride revealed that nitrogen was incorporated into eupyrene spermatozoa, seminal protein, and thoracic muscle. Ammonia uptake by males significantly increased the number of eupyrene sperms in the reproductive tract tissues. The females also had the capacity to assimilate ammonia into egg protein. Consequently, it is evident that acquired ammonia is utilized for the replenishment of proteins allocable for reproduction and somatic maintenance. The active exploitation of exogenous ammonia as a nutrient by a butterfly would foster better understanding of the foraging and reproductive strategies in insects.

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Acknowledgment

We thank the staff of the Instrument Center for Chemical Analysis, Hiroshima University, for elemental analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biofunctional Science and Technology, Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University, Higashihiroshima, 739-8528, Japan

    Keiichi Honda, Hiroyuki Takase & Hisashi Ômura

  2. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, 305-8572, Japan

    Hiroshi Honda

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  1. Keiichi Honda
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  2. Hiroyuki Takase
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Correspondence to Keiichi Honda.

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Communicated by: Sven Thatje

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Honda, K., Takase, H., Ômura, H. et al. Procurement of exogenous ammonia by the swallowtail butterfly, Papilio polytes, for protein biosynthesis and sperm production. Naturwissenschaften 99, 695–703 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-012-0951-z

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