Fig. 4: 3D20E is more potent than 20E at inducing mating refractoriness and oviposition.
From: A male steroid controls female sexual behaviour in the malaria mosquito
(a,b) 3D20E chemically synthesized from 20E (a) with very high levels of conversion/efficiency (data presented as mean ± s.e.m., derived from three independent synthesis reactions) (b). c, Mass spectra (lower half) perfectly matched those of ecdysteroids found in the mated female LRT (upper half). d, Injection of 0.63 µg or 0.21 µg 3D20E induced significantly higher refractoriness to mating than 20E (0.63 µg, P = 0.02; 0.21 µg, P < 0.0001; Fisher’s exact tests, two-sided) and 10% ethanol controls (0.63 µg, P < 0.0001; 0.21 µg, P < 0.0001; Fisher’s exact tests, two-sided), whereas 20E was significantly higher than controls only at the higher dose (0.63 µg, P = 0.0002; 0.21 µg, P = 0.54; Fisher’s exact tests, two-sided). e, 3D20E injections induced significantly higher oviposition rates than 10% ethanol controls in virgin females (0.21 µg, P < 0.0001; 0.13 µg, P = 0.0003; Fisher’s exact tests, two-sided), whereas 20E was significant compared with controls only at the higher dose (0.21 µg, P = 0.022; 0.13 µg, P = 0.0823; Fisher’s exact tests, two-sided). 3D20E induced significantly higher oviposition rates than 20E at higher doses (0.21 µg, P = 0.0019; 0.13 µg, P = 0.075; Fisher’s exact tests, two-sided). In all panels, n indicates the number of biologically independent mosquito samples. NS, not significant. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P < 0.001. Data were pooled from three replicates.
