After this period, insulin release and content, and glucose oxidation were measured

nd in larvae correlated with the carbohydrate content of O. kilimandscharicum, which remained significantly high. Possibly, H. armigera maintains its amylase activity to better utilize the higher amount of carbohydrates from O. kilimandscharicum. A gradual decline in lipase activity was observed in larvae fed on O. kilimandscharicum from 12 h after feeding to the third day. Lipase activity measured in H. armigera larvae fed on O. kilimandscharicum was correlated with lipid content in the plant. The current study is consistent with our previous findings which revealed the differential expression of proteases, amylases and lipases in H. armigera in response to different diets. O. kilimandscharicum metabolites cause severe pupal deformities in H. armigera To measure the insecticidal performance of individual defense metabolites from O. kilimandscharicum, feeding assays were carried out with H. armigera second instar larvae. Results of two way ANOVA show a statistically significant interaction for the total variance of 9.95% at p,0.0001 between the days of infestation and growth of larvae fed on leaf extract, camphor, limonene, b-caryophyllene, artificial diet and also for mortality . Growth was retarded in all larvae fed on the diet supplemented with selected metabolites on all days. Artificial diet fed larvae showed significantly more larval mass as compared to larvae fed on the other diets at day 4, 6, and 8 . Larvae fed on the selected metabolites exhibited different percentage mortality. Larvae fed on limonene-based diet showed significantly more mortality as compared to other three diets on day 2 and 4 whereas b-caryophyllene showed significantly more mortality compared to other diets on day 6 and 8. Significantly less growth and high mortality in four diets fed larvae indicates gradual effect of these compounds on insect survival. Additionally, pupal deformities were evident in the insects fed on camphor and O. kilimandscharicum leaf extract. Our results clearly show that these metabolites can directly affect insect growth, survival and pupation, and hence can be used as potent insecticides. Compounds associated with secondary metabolism are central to O. kilimandscharicum defense Consistently increasing accumulations of monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, phenylpropanoids and hydrocarbons were evident in the leaves of O. kilimandscharicum from 12 h to day 3 after insect infestation. The maximum defense response was elicited on the third day, when levels of all the metabolites were higher. JW 55 However, the accumulation of metabolites decreased progressively towards day 6. When a few leaves are left, plants mobilize their resources in the direction of their stems and roots. However, metabolite accumulation in systemic leaf tissues was higher than in local tissues in 12 and 24 h after insect attack. Changes in the levels of metabolites observed in the stem follow a pattern similar to that in leaves. The defense response PubMed ID:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19661801 was high on the third day, so the plant mobilized all its reserves in the roots, and hence fewer metabolites were detected in the stem on the sixth day. Generally, the stem contains fewer metabolites than leaves. Our results suggest that the stem seems to play the role of translocator. The stem transports metabolites from roots to leaves during the initial defense response and channels metabolite reserves to the roots during later stages of infestation when the aerial tissues are consumed. Few compounds were detected in roots, su