Tracer studies on dinoflagellate luciferin with [15N]-glycine and [15N]-l-glutamic acid in the dinoflagellate Pyrocystis lunula
✍ Scribed by Chun Wu; Hidetoshi Akimoto; Yoshihiro Ohmiya
- Book ID
- 104252876
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2003
- Tongue
- French
- Weight
- 96 KB
- Volume
- 44
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0040-4039
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✦ Synopsis
The bioluminescence of dinoflagellate is a typical luciferin-luciferase reaction. To clarify the biosynthesis of dinoflagellate luciferin, we performed a feeding experiment with [ 15 N]-glycine and [ 15 N]-L-glutamic acid in the dinoflagellate Pyrocystis lunula. In a control experiment, we also examined whether or not chlorophyll a was incorporated with these labeled compounds. We detected by mass spectrometry the incorporation of [ 15 N]-glycine and [ 15 N]-L-glutamic acid into the four tetrapyrrole rings of the luciferin. In the control experiment, chlorophyll a was also incorporated with [ 15 N]-glycine and [ 15 N]-L-glutamic acid. Our results show that either glycine or glutamic acid could be the original component of dinoflagellate luciferin as well as chlorophyll a in the dinoflagellate P. lunula.