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Fuels for flight in the fruit beetle,Pachnoda Sinuata, and control of flight metabolism

Bibliography: p. 131-143.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Auerswald, Lutz
Other Authors: Gade, Gerd
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Biological Sciences 2016
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access_status_str Open Access
author Auerswald, Lutz
author2 Gade, Gerd
author_browse Auerswald, Lutz
Gade, Gerd
author_facet Gade, Gerd
Auerswald, Lutz
author_sort Auerswald, Lutz
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description Bibliography: p. 131-143.
format Thesis
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:59.204Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
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publisher Department of Biological Sciences
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/18108 Fuels for flight in the fruit beetle,Pachnoda Sinuata, and control of flight metabolism Auerswald, Lutz Gade, Gerd Zoology Bibliography: p. 131-143. Isolated flight muscle mitochondria of Pachnoda sinuata, Decapotoma lunata, Trichostetha fascicularis, Lepithrix sp. and Camenta innocua prefer the oxidation of proline, pyruvate and α- glycerophosphate, while those of Locusta migratoria prefer the oxidation of palmitoyl-carnitine,pyruvate and α-glycerophosphate. Palmitoyl-carnitine cannot be oxidised directly by P. sinuata flight muscle mitochondria, while proline is oxidised at low rates in locust mitochondria. At low concentrations of proline, the respiration rate during co-oxidation of proline and pyruvate is additive, while at high proline concentrations it is equal to the respiration rates of sole proline oxidation. Flight muscles of P. sinuata and D. lunata were found to have high activities of the enzymes alanine aminotransferase and NAD-dependent malic enzyme which are involved in proline metabolism, while the activities of these enzymes were lower in locust flight muscles. The activity of 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase, an enzyme used in fatty acid oxidation, is low in the flight muscles of P. sinuata and D. lunata, but high in locust flight muscles. Enzymes involved In carbohydrate breakdown (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphatedehydrogenase, glycogen phosphorylase) were found to have high activities in flight muscles of P. sinuata, D. lunata and L. migratoria. Two methods of tethered flight were investigated. One of these allowed the animals to produce lift. During lift generating flight, proline concentrations in haemolymph and flight muscles of P. sinuata decrease sharply with concomitant increases in alanine concentrations. During recovery after flight, proline concentrations increase while concentrations of alanine decrease. Haemolymph carbohydrate concentrations increase during the first seconds off light but decline consistently thereafter. During a subsequent rest period concentrations again increase. Glycogen concentration in the flight muscles decrease sharply in the first few seconds of flight, gradually declining thereafter. During subsequent recovery, flight muscle glycogen concentrations increase. Lipid haemolymph concentration increase only slightly during flight and rest thereafter. Two distinct metabolic phases were observed during lift generating flight. 2016-03-21T19:24:16Z 2016-03-21T19:24:16Z 1997 Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18108 eng application/pdf Department of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Zoology
Auerswald, Lutz
Fuels for flight in the fruit beetle,Pachnoda Sinuata, and control of flight metabolism
thesis_degree_str Doctoral
title Fuels for flight in the fruit beetle,Pachnoda Sinuata, and control of flight metabolism
title_full Fuels for flight in the fruit beetle,Pachnoda Sinuata, and control of flight metabolism
title_fullStr Fuels for flight in the fruit beetle,Pachnoda Sinuata, and control of flight metabolism
title_full_unstemmed Fuels for flight in the fruit beetle,Pachnoda Sinuata, and control of flight metabolism
title_short Fuels for flight in the fruit beetle,Pachnoda Sinuata, and control of flight metabolism
title_sort fuels for flight in the fruit beetle pachnoda sinuata and control of flight metabolism
topic Zoology
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18108
work_keys_str_mv AT auerswaldlutz fuelsforflightinthefruitbeetlepachnodasinuataandcontrolofflightmetabolism