Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.pdfVIP

Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 40 (2010) 166e178 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology journal homepage: /locate/ibmb Review Insect cuticular sclerotization: A review Svend Olav Andersen* The Collstrop Foundation, The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, H.C. Andersens Boulevard 35, DK-1553 Copenhagen V, Denmark a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: Different regions of an insect cuticle have different mechanical properties, partly due to different degrees Received 15 August 2009 of stabilization and hardening occurring during the process of sclerotization, whereby phenolic material Received in revised form is incorporated into the cuticular proteins. Our understanding of the chemistry of cuticular sclerotization 10 October 2009 has increased considerably since Mark Pryor in 1940 suggested that enzymatically generated ortho- Accepted 23 October 2009 quinones react with free amino groups, thereby crosslinking the cuticular proteins. The results obtained since then have confirmed the essential features of Pryors suggestion, and the many observations and Keywords: experiments, which have been obtained, have led to a detailed and rather complex picture of the Cuticle Sclerotization sclerotization process, as described in this review. However, many im