Environmental Entomology (1988) 17, 915-920

B.W. Wood and J.A. Payne (1988)
Growth regulators in chestnut shoot galls infected with Oriental chestnut gall wasp, Dryocosmus kuriphilus (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae)
Environmental Entomology 17 (6), 915-920
Abstract: The potentially devastating impact of the oriental chestnut gall wasp, Dryocosmus kuriphilus (Yasumatsu), on nut productivity of Chinese chestnut, Castanea mollissima (Bl.), prompted an assessment of the role of endogenous phytohormone-like growth regulators in gall development. Enzyme immunoassays for several growth regulators associated with developing galls indicated the probable presence of t-zeatin (Z), t-zeatin riboside (ZR), dihydrozeatin (DHZ), dihydrozeatin riboside (DHZR), indoleacetic acid (IAA), and abscisic acid (ABA) in gall tissues. Levels of these regulators were similar in amount and seasonal abundance to that in nongalled shoots; however, ABA- and DHZR-like substances were much higher in developing stem galls. All of these regulators (except ABA-like substances) were detected in developing gall wasps within the stem gall; however, levels within the insect were much lower than in stem-gall tissue. This indicates that these particular regulators may not be the growth controlling factor(s) that initiate gall development. Gall wasp pupae contained high levels of IAA- and DHZR-like substances, whereas larvae contained only high levels of a DHZR-like factor, indicating these substances may exhibit a role in insect morphogenesis.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

---

Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Dryocosmus kuriphilus	Chestnut (Castanea)	U.S.A. (SE)