Synthesis of proteins and nucleic acids by the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum (aphididae) in the absence of a full complement of dietary amino acids

Abstract Protein, nucleic acids, and nucleotide syntheses were studied in pea aphids, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris), by feeding them labeled 14C‐amino acids and [5‐3H]‐orotic acid in sucrose. It was demonstrated that in the absence of dietary essential amino acids, aphids were capable of synthesizing nucleic acids, nucleotides, and proteins when provided with a single dietary amino acid in sucrose. It is suggested that other required amino acids were possibly supplied by the symbionts present in the pea aphid and/or were obtained from the amino acid pool in the hemolymph or glucose, one of the end products of sucrose digestion. Of the various amino acids tested, synthesis of measurable amounts of protein or other compounds occurred when alanine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, glycine, proline, or serine were provided, but no synthesis occurred with cysteine.