Metabolic response of cerambycid beetle (Morimus funereus) larvae to starvation and food quality

Abstract

The response of xylophagous Morimus funereus larvae to a direct change of diet demonstrated that the larvae from nutrient-poor substrates, e.g. oak, are very sensitive to such a change. Depending on dietary protein quality and quantity, an increase of proteolytic activity, i.e. an intensified protein metabolism accompanied by changes in body mass gain, was observed. At the same time, amylolytic activity was usually decreased. In the larvae reared on Robert's diet, sensitivity to the switch in diet was lower at the level of proteolytic enzymes that remained at the control level, while amylolytic activity was elevated. If the switch to a new diet was preceded by 7-day-starvation that disturbed nutritional homeostasis, the response of the larvae was similar to that recorded upon a direct switch only after short-term feeding (24 h) upon starvation. Differences in the response to changes in the diet of the larvae from nature, those reared under laboratory conditions and those of different physiological status could be ascribed to plasticity in the expression of the genes coding for proteases and their isoenzymes, as well as to the multi-functionality of some neurosecretory neurons, synthetic products that participate in the regulation of digestive enzyme activities.