Abstract
IT has been known for some time that with very few exceptions1 insects require only the unsaponifiable, not the saponifiable, fractions of lipids. According to Hobson, for example, the larvæ of Lucilia sericata require cholesterol as an extraneous growth factor, and they are capable of synthesizing neutral fat from a lipid-free peptone diet under sterile conditions. Since then, many insects have been found to require a sterol (zoosterol, phytosterol or mycosterol) as growth factor.
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References
Scoggin, J. K., and Tauber, O. E., Iowa State College J. Sci., 25, 99 (1950). Fraenkel, G., and Blewett, M., Biochem. J., 41, 475 (1947). Pepper, J. H., and Hastings, E., Montana State Coll. Agric. Exp. Stat. Bull. 413 (1943). Hobson, R. P., Biochem. J., 29, 1292, 2023 (1935).
Silverman, P. H., and Levinson, Z. H. (unpublished results).
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BERGMANN, E., LEVINSON, Z. Steroid Requirements of Housefly Larvæ. Nature 173, 211–212 (1954). https://doi.org/10.1038/173211a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/173211a0
