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Science 23 July 1982:
Vol. 217. no. 4557, pp. 353 - 355
DOI: 10.1126/science.217.4557.353
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Articles

L-Canavanine, a Dietary Nitrogen Source for the Seed Predator Caryedes brasiliensis (Bruchidae)

GERALD A. ROSENTHAL 1, CHARLIE G. HUGHES 2, and DANIEL H. JANZEN 3

1 T. H. Morgan School of Biological Sciences and Graduate Center for Toxicology, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506
2 Tobacco and Health Research Institute, University of Kentucky
3 Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19174

Larvae of the bruchid beetle Caryedes brasiliensis (Bruchidae) develop entirely within the seed of the neotropical legume Dioclea megacarpa. The seed contains an appreciable concentration of L-canavanine, a potent antimetabolite and structural analog of L-arginine. This bruchid beetle uses the nitrogen stored in this toxic allelochemical as an effective dietary nitrogen source for amino acid biosynthesis.

Submitted on October 20, 1981
Revised on February 22, 1982


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Antimalarial Activities of Aminooxy Compounds.
B. J. Berger (2000)
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 44, 2540-2542
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The biochemical basis for L-canavanine tolerance by the tobacco budworm Heliothis virescens (Noctuidae).
C. Melangeli, G. A. Rosenthal, and D. L. Dalman (1997)
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