Summary
The interrelationships of carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism during anaerobiosis were investigated in the ventricle of the intertidal oyster,Crassostrea gigas. While the ventricle accumulates alanine and succinate in a 2∶1 ratio during anoxia, these end products appear to arise from different precursors. Thus glucose-14C is metabolized mainly to alanine-14C (55% of glucose carbon appears in alanineversus 3% in succinate) by the anoxic ventriclein vitro while succinate-14C is the principle end product of aspartate-14C catabolism. Glutamate-14C is poorly metabolized by the anoxic ventricle, and correspondingly, while ventricular aspartate concentrations drop during anoxia, those of other amino acids do not. A metabolic scheme coupling glucose and aspartate catabolism in this facultative anaerobe is proposed. The detection of a third, as yet incompletely identified, anaerobic end product produced by the ventricle is reported.
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Collicutt, J.M., Hochachka, P.W. The anaerobic oyster heart: Coupling of glucose and aspartate fermentation. J Comp Physiol B 115, 147–157 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00692526
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00692526