Comparative detoxication. 11. Conjugations of 1-naphthol and some other phenols in houseflies and locusts.

Insects from a variety of Orders have been shown to detoxify phenols by conjugation with glucose and this mechanism has been suggested as a systematic biochemical characteristic of insects (Smith, 1955a). The phenols may be foreign compounds or may be those formed in the normal course of metabolism (Smith, 1955b, 1964; Kent & Brunet, 1959; Stay & Roth, 1962; Butenandt, Biekert, Kubler & Linzen, 1960). On the other hand, a glucosiduronate of 3hydroxykynurenine is said to be present in silkworm pupae (Inagami, 1955), and Terriere, Boose & Roubal (1961) detected 1-naphthyl glucosiduronic acid and glucosiduronic acid derivatives of 1,2dihydro-1,2-dihydroxynaphthalene and 1,2-dihydronaphthol in the excreta of flies dosed with 1-naphthol. No glucosides were reported. Possible explanations of this apparent difference between flies and other insects were that the extent of conjugation of naphthol differed from that of other phenols or that there were qualitative species differences in the glycosidic detoxications. We have therefore examined the rates of conjugation of a range of phenols, including 1-naphthol, in locusts in which the glucosidic detoxication is well established, and have also studied the conjugation of 1-naphthol and some other phenols in houseflies.