Abstract
The mechanism of hydrocarbon biosynthesis was examined in the fleshfly Sarcophaga crassipalpis, the blowfly Phormia regina, the German cockroach Blattella germanica, the house cricket Acheta domesticus, the Mormon cricket Anabrus simplex, the dampwood termite Zootermopsis nevadensis and compared to the house fly, Musca domestica. Microsomal preparations from each species readily converted [9,10- 3H 2]octadecanal (18:0 Ald) to heptadecane. NADPH and O 2 were required for enzymic activity in all cases, and very little hydrocarbon was formed under anaerobic conditions. Radio-GLC analyses of the head space gas formed from the metabolism of [1- 14C]18:0 Ald by microsomes from M. domestica, S. crassipalpis, P. regina and B. germanica clearly showed that 14CO 2 and not 14CO was formed. Quantitation of the products from the metabolism of [1- 14C] and [9,10- 3H 2]18:0 Ald in microsomes from M. domestica, P. regina, S. crassipalpis, B. germanica and Z. nevadensis showed that an approximate 1 1 ratio of 14CO 2/[ 3H] heptadecane was formed. The data support a mechanism in which the aldehyde is converted to hydrocarbon and CO 2 in insects.
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