ABSTRACT
Oocytes of arthropods are characterized by the accumulation of a large amount of a single protein named vitellogenin (Wyatt and Pan, 1978; Engelmann, 1979; Yamashita and Indrasith, 1988) that is used as a source of nutrients for embryo development. In general, vitellogenins are synthesized in the fat body (Pan et al, 1969; Brookes, 1969) in response to hormonal regulation (Engelmann, 1990) as single or multiple precursors that are processed before secretion to the haemolymph (Raikhel et al, 1990) and that are taken up by receptor-mediated endocytosis (Roth et al, 1976).
