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Journal of Experimental Biology 40,587-594 (1963)
Published by Company of Biologists 1963

Organic Constituents of The Seminal Plasma of Balanus Balanus

H. BARNES ¹

¹ The Marine Station, Millport. Scotland

1. The seminal plasma of Balanus balanus has been analysed for a number of organic substances including total nitrogen, protein, urea, protein-bound hexose, hexosamine, fucose, ‘sialic acid’, glycogen, and RNA. The material was separated into soluble and insoluble fractions by precipitation with ethanol.

2. A large part of the ethanol-soluble material is inorganic salts and glycine; it contains a small quantity of protein-like material which on hydrolysis yields largely glycine and glutamic acid.

3. The alcohol-precipitated material contains protein, protein-bound hexose, hexosamine, lipids, and RNA. Glycogen, fucose, and ‘sialic acid’ are absent.

4. It is suggested that the plasma contains glycoproteins of a mucoid nature: the absence of both fucose and ‘sialic acid’ suggests that the mucoid may be of a relatively simple character.

5. Attention is drawn to the similarity of this seminal plasma, which is produced in the absence of accessory male organs, to that of higher animals.