AN INTESTINAL INSULIN-LIKE MOLECULE IN APIS-MELLIFICA L (HYMENOPTERA)

In worker honeybee (A. mellifica), an insulin-like substance reacting with guinea pig anti-insulin antibody was found in hemolymph and in midgut tissue exclusively. Quantitative estimation of this factor was made with an insulin radioimmunoassay. A purified tissue extract showed a MW by liquid chromatography and electrophoresis of 18,000 daltons. The curves of decreasing percentage of bound insulin as a function of decreasingly diluted midgut extracts are superimposable. The insect insulin-like molecule may be very similar to mammalian insulin.