Abstract
1. Incorporation of ethanol-2-14C into furanoterpenoids such as ipomeamarone in sweet potato infected with the black rot fungus, Ceratocystis fimbriata, was demonstrated by silica gel chromatography and radioautogram analysis of extracts (lipid fraction) soluble in chloroform-methanol (1:1, v/v) after feeding ethanol-2-14C to the tissue.
2. Further proof for ipomeamarone biosynthesis from ethanol-2-14C was established by the fact that the specific radioactivity of ipomeamarone semicarbazone, the crystalline derivative of ipomeamarone, was not lowered throughout the respective crystallizations.
3. The rate of incorporation of ethanol-2-14C into ipomeamarone was about two fold more efficient than for acetate-2-14C.
4. Incorporation of ethanol-2-14C into ipomeamarone and chloroform-methanol soluble lipid fractions was markedly decreased by treating sweet potato root tissue with pyrazole, the potent inhibitor of alcohol dehydrogenase.
5. These results suggest that ethanol was utilized for lipid synthesis after being directly converted to acetyl CoA via acetaldehyde, and it appears likely that a CoA-linked aldehyde dehydrogenase operates in sweet potato root tissue infected with C. fimbriata.
