Nitrogen isotope fractionation associated with enzymatic deamination of glutamic acid

Abstract

Estimating trophic positions (TPs) of organisms using nitrogen isotopic compositions of amino acids (glutamic acid and phenylalanine) has been recently established and applied for a variety of research. This study aims to estimate the ¹⁵N/¹⁴N fractionation factor alpha associated with enzymatic deamination of glutamic acid using an in vitro experiment. In this talk, we will report the estimated alpha value and discuss changes in nitrogen isotopic compositions of glutamic acid in various pairs of preys and predators, as well as future perspectives of food web studies based on TP estimations.