Data from: The biological significance of lipogenesis in Nasonia vitripennis

Parasitic wasps have long been thought to be unable to synthesise fatty
acids de novo, but recent 13C-labelling studies have challenged this view.
It remained unclear, however, whether the reported biosynthesis rates are
of biological relevance. Here, we show in Nasonia vitripennis that ageing
females with partly depleted lipid reserves produce biologically relevant
amounts of fatty acids de novo. Females with varying oviposition history
(0-48 h) prior to feeding 20% 13C-labelled glucose solution showed
13C-incorporation rates of (mean ± SEM) 30±2%, 50±2%, 49±3%, and 21±2% in
palmitic, stearic, oleic, and linoleic acid, respectively. The absolute
amounts of fatty acids synthesised de novo across treatments corresponded
to 28±3 egg lipid equivalents. Females incorporated de novo synthesised
fatty acids into their eggs, and glucose-fed females laid more eggs than
water-fed control females. The number of eggs laid prior to glucose
feeding did not correlate with the degree of lipogenesis, but the amounts
of de novo synthesised fatty acids correlated with constitutive (not
synthesised de novo) fatty acids. Hence, glucose feeding has a twofold
effect on the fatty acid status of N. vitripennis females by decelerating
the catabolism of existing fat reserves and partially replenishing ebbing
fat reserves by lipogenesis.