Abstract
THE sclerotisation and tanning of insect cuticles is generally thought to result from a crosslinking of the cuticular proteins by quinonoid derivatives of tyrosine1,2. Little consideration has been given to the fact that β alanine is a constitutent of the cuticles of many insects3,4, although it is required for normal tanning of the pupal case of several insects. Failure to utilise or produce the compound in Drosophila melanogaster results in an untanned pupal case5–7, whereas in Musca domestica, Bombyx mori and Drosophila virilis, failure to incorporate β alanine results in abnormally black cases7. In this work, we suggest an explanation for these observations and provide evidence that β alanine also plays a role in the tanning of adult fruit-flies.
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HODGETTS, R., CHOI, A. β Alanine and cuticle maturation in Drosophila. Nature 252, 710–711 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/252710a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/252710a0
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