Metabolic transformation of tritium-labeled pheromone by tissues ofHeliothis virescens moths.

Unsaturated aliphatic pheromones ofH. VIRESCENS were prepared at high specific activity ((3)H, 58 Ci/mmol) and were employed to study tissue specificity of acetate esterase, alcohol oxidase, and aldehyde dehydrogenase in male and femaleHeliothis virescens. Thus, [9,10-(3)H2]Z9-14:Ac was synthesized by partial tritiation of the corresponding alkyne and was converted to the labeledZ9-14∶OH andZ9-14∶Al for metabolic studies. Soluble and membrane-associated enzyme activities were determined by radio-TLC assays. Esterase activity is highest in legs of both sexes, but also occurs in antennal and glandular tissues. Oxidase activity requires O2 and is highest in female pheromone gland tissues, but it is also high in the male hairpencils. Aldehyde dehydrogenase activity was uniformly high in all tissues, but highest in antennal tissues of both males and females.