Abstract: A lipophorin was isolated and purified from whole body of third instar mature larvae of pine needle gall midge,Thecodiplosis japonensis(Uchida et Inouye) by KBr density gradient ultracentrifugation and Sepharose CL-4B gel permeation. It is the second lipophorin that have been purified from whole body. The native molecular weight was 638 kD by gel permeation chromatography. It was composed of two subunits, named as apoLp-Ⅰ and apoLp-Ⅱ, with molecular weight of 240 kD and 52 kD respectively. The holoprotein contained 52.8% protein and 47.2% lipid by weight. Sudan Black B and Periodic acid／Schiffs' reagent staining showed positive results, indicating a kind of glycolipoprotein. Its density was 11.1 g／mL, showing a kind of high density lipoprotein. The presence of high content of lipophorin in wholebody of third instar, suggesting a potential role in lipid transport and／or cryoprotection during the overwintering periods.

Key words: Thecodiplosis japonensis, lipophorin, high density lipoprotein, overwintering larvae