Studies in the biochemistry of cirripede eggs III. Changes in the amino-acid composition during development of Balanus balanoides and B. balanus

Extract

The amino-acid composition of Balanus balanoides (L.) and B. balanus (L.) da Costa eggs during their development has been investigated. Protein accounts for 70–80% of the dry matter. The amino-acid composition of the eggs is similar to that reported for Calanus finmarchicus, for which reliable information is available. Loss of all amino acids takes place during development, but the relative amounts of glycine and alanine increase in the late stages. The rates of loss are far greater in B. balanus, where the eggs themselves develop more rapidly. In B. balanoides there is a distinct ‘ arrest’ in the rate of loss of amino acids at the H-stage; this is coincident with a similar arrest in the loss of other metabolites and in development. Loss of nitrogen from the eggs has been measured directly and the results compared with the values calculated from the analyses. In the early stages the agreement is good if allowance is made for the difference in temperature between the elution experiments and the natural environment.

Data have already been presented (Barnes, 1965; Dawson & Barnes, 1966) on the major biochemical constituents of the eggs of two common cirripedes, Balanus balanoides and B. balanus, and on changes in these constituents during development. It has been shown that protein nitrogen is lost throughout development and that the rate of this loss is greatest during the early stages; also that nitrogen utilization relative to that of carbohydrate is greater in B. balanus. The more rapid development of the eggs of the latter species gives rise to a greater rate at which all substrates are utilized, but the proportions disappearing—relative to the initial quantities—are not widely different; rather more is lost in the species that develops more rapidly.