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Science 3 November 1978:
Vol. 202. no. 4367, pp. 528 - 529
DOI: 10.1126/science.202.4367.528
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Articles

L-Canaline Detoxification: A Seed Predator's Biochemical Mechanism

GERALD A. ROSENTHAL 1, D. L. DAHLMAN 2, and DANIEL H. JANZEN 3

1 T. H. Morgan School of Biological Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506
2 Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky
3 Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19174

The seeds of the Neotropical legume, Dioclea megacarpa, the sole food source for developing larvae of the bruchid beetle, Caryedes brasiliensis, contain about 13 percent L-canavanine (dry weight). Canavanine detoxification and utilization produces L-canaline, a potent neurotoxic and insecticidal amino acid. This seed predator has developed a unique biochemical mechanism for degrading canaline by reductive deamination to form homoserine and ammonia. In this way, canaline is detoxified; canavanine's stored nitrogen is more fully utilized and its carbon skeleton is conserved.

Submitted on March 15, 1978
Revised on May 2, 1978


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
L-Canavanine, a Dietary Nitrogen Source for the Seed Predator Caryedes brasiliensis (Bruchidae).
G. A. ROSENTHAL, C. G. HUGHES, and D. H. JANZEN (1982)
Science 217, 353-355
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)