| Summary: | Infection with salivary gland hypertrophy virus (<i>Md</i>SGHV) of <i>Musca domestica</i> prevents female flies from accepting copulation attempts by healthy or virus-infected males. This study focused on supplemental hormonal rescue therapy for mating behavior in virus-infected female house flies. The inhibitory effect of the virus on mating behavior in females injected with <i>Md</i>SGHV was reversed by hormonal therapy in the form of octopamine injections, topical application of methoprene, or both therapies combined along with 20-hydroxyecdysone. Infected females whose mating responsiveness had been restored continued to have other viral pathologies associated with infection such as hypertrophy of the salivary glands and a lack of ovarian development.
|
|---|