QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by NICHOLAS, W. L. Articles by MOSES, V. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by NICHOLAS, W. L. Articles by MOSES, V.

Journal of Experimental Biology 37,435-443 (1960)
Published by Company of Biologists 1960

The Incorporation of ¹⁴C from Sodium Acetate-2-¹⁴C into the Amino Acids of the Soil-Inhabiting Nematode, caenorhabditis briggsae

W. L. NICHOLAS ¹, ELLSWORTH C. DOUGHERTY ², EDER LINDSAY HANSEN ², OSMUND HOLM-HANSEN ³, and VIVIAN MOSES ⁴

¹ Laboratory of Comparative Biology, Kaiser Foundation Research Institute, Richmond, California ,U.S.A.; Department of Zoology, University of Liverpool; on leave, 1957-8, as Travelling Fellow of theMedical Research Council, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.
² Laboratory of Comparative Biology, Kaiser Foundation Research Institute, Richmond, California ,U.S.A.
³ Bio-Organic Group, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.; Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
⁴ Bio-Organic Group, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.; Department of Chemical Pathology, King's College Hospital Medical School, London, S.E. 5, England.

1. The nematode, Caenorhabditis briggsae was cultured axenicaily in a mixture of chick embryo extract, autoclaved liver extract and sodium acetate-2-¹⁴C. A protein hydrolysate was prepared from the worms and the eggs which were collected from the cultures.

2. Chromatography and radioautography were carried out in a study of the amino acid composition of the hydrolysate. The following amino acids were found labelled: aspartic acid, glutamic acid, alanine, proline, glycine, serine. Cystein and cystine were oxidized to cysteic acid which was also labelled. The following amino acids were not labelled: arginine, histidine, lysine, methionine, threonine, tyrosine, valine and the combined spot representing phenylalanine, leucine and isoleucine. Tryptophane would have been destroyed by our method of hydrolysis.

3. Since the labelled amino acids are synthesized by the worm, it is suggested, tentatively, that they are not required in an otherwise adequate diet. So far as the unlabelled amino acids are concerned, it is suggested, on the basis of the results of certain culture experiments (published separately) that, with the probable exception of tyrosine, they are essential in the diet of C. briggsae.