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Metabolism of Δ 0 ‐, Δ 5 ‐, and Δ 7 ‐Sterols by Larvae of Heliothis zea
Author(s) -
Ritter Karla S.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
archives of insect biochemistry and physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.576
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1520-6327
pISSN - 0739-4462
DOI - 10.1002/arch.940010310
Subject(s) - campesterol , sterol , cholestanol , biology , stigmasterol , lathosterol , larva , metabolism , cholesterol , plant sterols , biochemistry , botany , genetics
Heliothis zea was reared on artificial diets containing Δ 5 ‐sterols (cholesterol, campesterol, or sitosterol), Δ 7 ‐sterols (lathosterol, epifungisterol, or spinasterol), or Δ 0 ‐sterols (cholestanol, epicoprostanol, campestanol, or sitostanol) in order to determine how different dietary sterols affect the type of sterols present in the tissues of the late‐sixth‐instar larva. Although all of the dietary sterols (except epicoprostanol) supported the growth of the larvae, not all of the sterols were metabolized to the same end products. In each case, at least 80% of the sterols in the tissues of the larvae retained the same nucleus as that of the dietary sterol, indicating that H. zea carries out very little metabolism of ring B of Δ 5 ‐, Δ 7 ‐, and Δ 0 ‐sterols. The larvae dealkylated the Δ 5 ‐, Δ 7 ‐, and Δ 0 ‐alkylsterols to 24‐desalkylsterols, but a greater percentage of the Δ 5 ‐alkylsterols were metabolized in this manner. The sterols present as free sterols in the larva were also present as esterifed sterols which accounted for 2–4% of the total sterols. Therefore, the sterol composition of the tissues of H. zea can be altered by varying the dietary sterols.