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Compartmentalization of digestion

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Biology of the Insect Midgut

Abstract

Biochemical and physiological processes that result in digestion of nutrient polymers in the insect midgut are arranged both spatially and temporally. This spatial and temporal separation is a result of morphological features of the gut tract combined with fluid fluxes that occur within the midgut. These features effectively compartmentalize buffering mechanisms responsible for pH and redox potential, enzymatic activity, absorption of nutrients, as well as excretory functions of the gut to specific regions and allow an efficient, sequential breakdown of food polymers into utilizable nutrients. In this chapter we will review evidence for this spatial arrangement of digestion in the midgut. This review will also stress the importance of an evolutionary or phylogenetic approach to an understanding of the many convergent and divergent morphological and biochemical features responsible for digestion in insects.

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Authors
  1. W. R. Terra
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  2. C. Ferreira
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  3. J. E. Baker
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2UW, UK

    M. J. Lehane

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ, Aberdeen, UK

    P. F. Billingsley

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Terra, W.R., Ferreira, C., Baker, J.E. (1996). Compartmentalization of digestion. In: Lehane, M.J., Billingsley, P.F. (eds) Biology of the Insect Midgut. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1519-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1519-0_8

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