Ten generations of Drosophila melanogaster reared axenically on a fatty acid-free holidic diet

✍ Scribed by E. W. Rapport; D. Stanley-Samuelson; R. H. Dadd

• Book ID: 102745179
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1983
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 557 KB
• Volume: 1
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0739-4462
• DOI: 10.1002/arch.940010307

✦ Synopsis

Wild-type Drosophila melanogaster were axenically raised on a completely synthetic fatty acid-free diet for at least ten consecutive generations, confirming that these insects do not require dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids. Capillary column gas-chromatographic analysis of lipids extracted from adults reared on yeast medium showed a peak which cochromatographed with linoleic acid, representing about 1.2% and 0.15% of all fatty acids in phospholipids and triacylglycerols, respectively. In flies reared on the synthetic diet for one generation or for five or more generations, the linoleic acid peak was still present but in about tenfold lower proportions of total fatty acids. This was true of both phospholipid and triglyceride fractions.