Amino acids as respiratory substrates in aphids: an analysis of Aphis fabae reared on plants and diets |
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Authors: | T L Wilkinson L B Minto A E Douglas |
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Institution: | Department of Biology, University of York, U.K. |
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Abstract: | Abstract. The fate of radioactively labelled amino acids injected into the haemolymph of the aphid Aphis fabae was investigated. Radioactivity from each of L-U-14C]-glutamic acid, L-U-14C]-serine and L-U-14C]-threonine in the aphid tissues declined exponentially, at rates of 32, 9.3 and 1.0 pmol/aphid/min, respectively. For 14C-glutamic acid, radioactivity lost from the aphids was recovered quantitatively as carbon dioxide, and radioactivity in aphid saliva and honeydew was undetectable. When expressed on a per unit aphid biomass basis, the rate of respiratory loss of glutamic acid from aphids reared on chemically-defined diets was more than double that of aphids reared on the host plant, Vicia faba . It is concluded that respiration is a quantitatively important component to the aphid metabolism of glutamic acid and other amino acids. |
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Keywords: | Amino acid aphid Aphis fabae glutamic acid haemolymph metabolism respiration symbiosis |
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