A Membrane Preparation From Insect Flight Muscle Sarcosomes

Abstract

A membrane fraction was prepaxed from the sarcosomes of the thoracic muscles of Lucilia cuprina by the action of 0·5 % sodium deoxycholate. The sarcosome membranes contained 23% of lipid extracted with solvents in three separate fractions. Acid hydrolysis of the defatted membranes liberated 14 amino acids which were estimated semiquantitatively, but no sugars or amino sugars could be detected. The proportion of phospholipid 'contained in the sarcosome and sarcosome membrane lipids was less than that reported for the lipids of other mitochondria. The breakdown of sarcosomes by deoxycholate was accompanied by loss of lipid components which were not phospholipid in nature. Most of the phospholipids and sterols of sarcosomes formed part of the membrane structure.