In vitro biosynthesis of fatty acids inDrosophila melanogaster.

A new in vitro technique, utilizing ruptured larvae ofDrosophila melanogaster, was employed to study the incorporation of(3)H-acetate into long-chain fatty acids. Preparative gas-liquid chromatography and scintillation spectroscopy were used to determine the relative activity of each fatty acid from total lipid extracts. Quantitative changes were observed in the distribution of label during the course of the incubation times, which ranged from five minutes to nine hours. All fatty acids which were observed to incorporate acetate in previous in vivo studies also showed incorporation of label under these in vitro conditions. It is concluded that this system may be useful for studying aspects on insect metabolism for short intervals of time.