Effect of starvation on the accumulation of CfDAP and CfDAP-like proteins in post-diapause Choristoneura fumiferana and diapause-free Choristoneura occidentalis

Abstract

In 1998, Palli et al. found that in the eastern spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana, two hexameric proteins termed CfDAP1 and CfDAP2 are expressed abundantly before and during diapause. To determine whether the accumulation of these proteins in early instars is a direct consequence of the diapause phenomenon, we assessed the abundance of CfDAP-like proteins in first (L1), second (L2), and third (L3) instars of a diapause-free strain of the closely related western spruce budworm, Choristoneura occidentalis. Using sodium dodecyl sulfate – polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western-blot analyses of L2 whole-body proteins, a CfDAP-specific antiserum reacted with two C. occidentalis proteins displaying apparent molecular masses identical with those of CfDAP1 and CfDAP2. Among the three larval stadia examined, CfDAP-like proteins accumulated to significant levels only in the first two, with enhanced accumulation observed in L2s starved from the time of hatching. Accumulation of CfDAP1 and CfDAP2 in post-diapause C. fumiferana L2s was affected similarly by food availability. Thus, the data presented here, combined with those of Palli et al., suggest that expression of CfDAP and CfDAP-like proteins in early larval life is more or less limited to L1 and L2, and is associated with starvation stress imposed either experimentally or by elements of the life cycle (i.e., diapause).