STORAGE OF NUTRIMENTS BY ADULT FEMALE GLOSSINA-MORSITANS AND THEIR TRANSFER TO INTRAUTERINE LARVA

Administration of U-14C arginine, histidine, leucine, lysine, phenylalanine, threonine, tyrosine, or valine into the hemolymph of female G. morsitans on the 1st day of the pregnancy cycle was followed by radiometric analysis of the post-parturient larva. Radioactivity in the larva, expressed as a percentage of the administered activity, was low with histidine (0.3%) and arginine (2.3%), but higher with the other 6 amino acids (8.2%-16.8%). 14C incorporation in the larval lipid was extremely low with arginine and histidine, but with the remaining 6 amino acids lipids showed the most 14C labeling. Radioactivity was detected in the larval amino acids corresponding to those injected into the female parents. Further radiometric study using labeled leucine showed that during the first 5 days of pregnancy surplus leucine was largely converted to lipid for larval growth. Thereafter, while the rate of leucine-derived 14C incorporation in the larval lipids declined rapidly; that in the larval proteins increased. Implications are that female G. morsitans has a significant capacity to store nutriments derived from bloodmeals ingested during early pregnancy destined for larval development, and that normal growth of the intra-uterine progeny is a function of optimum feeding throughout the pregnancy cycle.