Summary
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1.
The glycoside receptor in the lateral maxillary sensilla styloconica of the larvae ofMamestra brassicae L. was investigated with electrophysiological methods. Apart from the glycoside receptor the sensillum comprises three further contact chemoreceptors-a sugar, a cation, and an anion cell—as well as a mechanoreceptor.
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2.
The glycoside receptor responds to 32 of 84 substances tested. Effective stimulants are glucosinolates, non-heterocyclic aryl glycosides possessing not more than two ring structures, convallatoxin and strychnine nitrate; less effective are the amino acids norleucine, methionine and phenylalanine. Ineffective are mono- and disaccharides, inorganic salts and the amino acids glycine, alanine and serine.
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3.
The stimulating effectiveness can be attributed to the following components of the stimulating molecules: aglycon, glycosidic linkage, sugar constituent; most effective areβ-glucosides.
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4.
Two strains stemming from genetically different populations differ with regard to the stimulating effectiveness of the aglycon-components of stimulants; this entails that the patterns of specificity are different for both strains.
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5.
Experiments with mixtures of stimulating substances and the comparison of the stimulating effectiveness of diverse test substances for both strains reveal that at least two classes of sites per receptor cell exist independently from each other.
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6.
Stimulus response curves for two especially efficient stimulants, sinigrin and 1-naphthyl-β-glucoside were measured for both strains: Hyperbolic as well as sigmoid kinetics were found, indicating simple relations between stimulus- and receptor-molecules on the one hand and cooperative interactions between diverse sites on the other hand.
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I thank Prof. Dr. Kai Hansen for many helpful discussions and for critical reading of the manuscript. I am also greatly indebted to Dr. Ingrid de la Motte for her constructive help in improving the English text. The work was supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Schwerpunktprogramm Rezeptorphysiologie).
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Wieczorek, H. The glycoside receptor of the larvae ofMamestra brassicae L. (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae). J. Comp. Physiol. 106, 153–176 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00620496
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00620496