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Science 13 August 1965:
Vol. 149. no. 3685, pp. 758 - 761
DOI: 10.1126/science.149.3685.758
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Articles

Unique Sterol in the Ecology and Nutrition of Drosophila pachea

William B. Heed 1 and Henry W. Kircher 2

1 Department of Zoology
2 Department of Agricultural Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson

Drosophila pachea, which breeds only in the stems of senita cactus (Lophocereus schottii) throughout the Sonoran Desert, requires the cactus as a dietary supplement when reared on laboratory media. Dgr7-Stigmasten-3beta-ol, isolated from the cactus or synthesized, can replace the cactus in the diet of flies reared nonaseptically or axenically. Dgr7-Cholesten-3beta-ol and Dgr5, 7-cholestadien-3beta-ol could be substituted for the cactus sterol; Dgr5, 7-stigmastadien-3beta-ol produced infertile females. Cholesterol, 4agr-methyl-Dgr7-cholesten-3beta3-ol, beta-sitosterol, stigmasterol, ergosterol, and Dgr7-ergosten- 3beta-ol did not support larval growth.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
It Really Is Not a Fruit Fly.
M. M. Green (2002)
Genetics 162, 1-3
   Full Text »    PDF »
Chemical Interactions in the Cactus-Microorganism-Drosophila Model System of the Sonoran Desert.
J. C. Fogleman and P. B. Danielson (2001)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 41, 877-889
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)