Seasonal Variation of Free Amino Acid Composition of Chondrus Ocellatus

Abstract

Using an amino acid analyzer (Hitachi, Type KLA-III, Amberlite CG 120), the seasonal variation, from April 6 to June 15, of the free amino acid composition of Chondrus ocellatus has been studied. The results obtained are shown in Table 2.
Amino acid composition of Chondrus ocellatus consists of considerable quantities of S-hydroxymethyl-L-homocysteine, glutamic acid, citrulline and taurine, some quantities of al-anine, arginine, aspartic acid, chondrine, cysteic adid, D-cysteinolic acid, glycine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, phenylalanine, serine, threonine and valine, and small quantities of alloisole-ucine, histidine, methionine, ornithine, and tyrosine. In the samples collected in June, pro-line is determined. Any amount of tryptophan is not detected throughout the period.
Interesting results on seasonal variation of nitrogen contents of amino acids have been found. The ratio of nitrogen of each amino acid to the sum of nitrogens of amino acids and ammonia was changed seasonally and abruptly (Table 3), i. e. 32-44% was obtained in the periods from April to, the beginning of June and 19% in the middle of June on citrulline; 14-16% in April and May and 10% in the middle of June on glutamic acid; 18% in the beginning of April and 0.2% in the middle of June on S-hydroxymethyl-L-homocysteine, 12-13% in April and the beginning of May and 27% in the middle of June on taurine. The values of cysteic acid and D-cysteinolic acid in June were higher than those in April.