Blood sugar formation due to abnormally elevated gluconeogenesis: aberrant regulation in a parasitized insect, Manduca sexta Linnaeus.
Alterations of carbohydrate metabolism associated with parasitism were examined in an insect, Manduca sexta L. In insect larvae maintained on a low carbohydrate diet gluconeogenesis from [3-13C]alanine was established from the fractional 13C enrichment in trehalose, a disaccharide of glucose and the blood sugar of insects and other invertebrates. After transamination of the isotopically substituted substrate to [3-13C]pyruvate, the latter was carboxylated to oxaloacetate ultimately leading to de novo glucose synthesis and trehalose formation. Trehalose was selectively enriched with 13C at C1 and C6 followed by C2 and C5. 13C enrichment of blood sugar in insects parasitized by Cotesia congregata (Say) was significantly greater than was observed in normal animals. The relative contributions of pyruvate carboxylation and decarboxylation to trehalose labeling were determined from the 13C distribution in glutamine, synthesized as a byproduct of the tricarboxylic acid cycle. The relative contribution of carboxylation was significantly greater in parasitized larvae than in normal insects providing additional evidence of elevated gluconeogenesis due to parasitism. Despite the increased gluconeogenesis in parasitized insects the level of blood sugar was the same in all animals. Because de novo glucose synthesis does not normally maintain blood sugar level in insects maintained under these dietary conditions the findings suggest an aberrant regulation over gluconeogenesis. The 13C labeling in trehalose was nearly symmetric in all insects but the mean C1/C6 13C ratio was higher in parasitized animals suggesting a lower activity of the pentose phosphate pathway that brings about a redistribution of 13C in trehalose following de novo glucose synthesis. Additional studies with insects maintained on a high carbohydrate diet and administered [1,2-13C2]glucose confirmed a decreased level of pentose cycling during parasitism consistent with a lower level of lipogenesis. It is suggested, however, that the pentose pathway may facilitate the synthesis of trehalose from dietary carbohydrate by directing hexose phosphate cycled through the pathway to the production of energy.
Thompson
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Analytical Chemistry Instrumentation Facility and Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
Dahlman
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D000818:Animals; D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D005943:Gluconeogenesis; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D006458:Hemolymph / Q000737:chemistry; D007814:Larva; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D018402:Manduca / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000469:parasitology*; D014199:Trehalose / Q000032:analysis
D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D014199:Trehalose; D005947:Glucose