Conversion of Glycogen to Sorbitol and Glycerol in the Diapause Egg of the Bombyx Silkworm

Abstract

IN the course of biochemical studies¹ on the embryonic diapause of the Bombyx silkworm, it has been shown that the glycogen content of the egg decreases markedly at the onset of diapause and reaches the lowest level at about thirty days after oviposition. When diapause is broken by cold treatment, glycogen increases progressively even at low temperature and regains the initial level almost completely. Pursuing the fate of glycogen during the diapause period, I have found that it is not consumed as an energy source, but it is converted to other substances including the following: sugars and their polymers, fat, lactic acid, gluconic acid and other organic acids such as Krebs cycle members, phosphoric esters and amino-acids.