Role of cholesterol in house fly reproduction

Abstract

IT is well established that immature insects, including the larvæ of Musca vicina Macq., require a dietary source of sterols for growth and development1,2. Chauvin3 reported that sterols are necessary for reproduction in the German cockroach but did not present supporting evidence or describe the effect of sterol deficiency on the reproductive processses. The house fly, which has been found to lack the mechanism for sterol biosynthesis from 14C-sodium acetate 4, utilizes a high percentage of administered 14C- cholesterol in egg production5. The following study was undertaken to determine the effect of dietary cholesterol on reproduction of the house fly. © 1959 Nature Publishing Group.