PRODUCTION OF ETHANOL BY CULTURED INSECT CELLS

Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (H-1-NMR) Analysis of insect cell cu lture media used for cultivating insect cell lines derived from the fl eshy Sarcophaga peregrina, swallowtail butterfly Papilio xuthus, and c abbage armyworm Mamestra brassicae revealed that ethanol appeared in t he medium as the cultures aged. By incorporating [C-13-l]-glucose into the media, we pursued C-13-NMR spectrograms to show that the ethanol was derived from glucose. Thus, it became evident that the insect cell s cultured in vitro produce ethanol from glucose as a metabolite.