Metabolic response to ethanol and isopropanol in D. funebris and D. immigrans

Ethanol at low concentration increases larval viability in D. funebris and D. melanogaster and decreases it in D. immigrans. Isopropanol decreases viability in all three species. Isopropanol depresses alcohol dehydrogenase activity. This is accompanied by a change in the relative proportion of electrophoretic forms of the enzyme. Acetone appears in the medium when larvae of D. funebris and D. immigrans develop in the presence of isopropanol. It can be transformed again into isopropanol on reaching a threshold value. It seems that this transformation cannot be carried out by alcohol dehydrogenase alone.