• Alanine is not essential amino acid for crustaceans (Cowey and Forster 1971).
• Alanine can elicit synthetic food retention in sea anemone tentacles but not mouth opening or digestion (Nagai and Nagai 1973)
• Present in natural seawater and is readily utilized by pelagic heterotrophic organisms (Williams et al. 1976)
• Common marine diatom Nitzschia laevis can utilize Alanine, uptake doubling in dark unless glucose is present (Lewin and Hellebust 1978)
• Used by bacteria in marine sediments (Christensen and Blackburn 1980)
• Not significant in bivalve shell organic matrix (Wheeler et al. 1988)
• Dissolved free Alanine is used in both anabolic and catabolic pathways in “nonfeeding” gastropod larvae (trochophore and veliger) and represent a net energy gain to the larvae (Jaeckle and Manahan 1989)
• Anemone and a stony coral absorb Alanine through ectoderm but not through oral epithelial layers (Bénazet-Tambutté et al. 1996)
• Alanine is synthesized in stony corals (have been shown to be excreted from zooxanthellae) and is considered to be non-essential (Fitzgerald and Szmant 1997)
• Alanine is part of larval attachment inductor for sedentary polychaetes (Harder and Qian 1999, Jin and Qian 2005)
• In Pocillopora damicornis Alanine uptake rate is among the highest of amino acids (Hoeegh-Guldberg and Williamson 1999)
• Alanine is metabolized quickly by zooxanthellae and also translocated to the host tissue (Roberts et al. 1999)
• Alanine has been identified as the principle amino acid translocated from zooxanthellae to host in a variety of marine algae invertebrate symbioses (Roberts et al. 1999)
• Alanine is one of most abundant amino acid in juvenile shrimp and is important part of diet (Mente et al. 2002)
• Alanine increases the bioactivities of the biofilms by changing the bacterial species composition (not the bacterial abundance) (Jin and Qian 2005)
• Uptake of Alanine is high in macroalgae (Tyler et al. 2005)
• Alanine inhibits feeding rates of the marine planktonic protist (ciliate) Favella sp. (Strom et al. 2007)
• Alanine, as a part of DOM, had a significant effect on completion of metamorphosis and lophophore size of Bryozoan larvae (Johnson and Wendt. 2007)

References:

Bénazet-Tambutté et al. Permeability of the oral epithelial layers in cnidarians. Marine Biology (1996)

Christensen and Blackburn. Turnover of tracer (14C, 3H labelled) alanine in inshore marine sediments. Marine Biology (1980)

Cowey and Forster. The essential amino-acid requirements of the prawn Palaemon serratus. The growth of prawns on diets containing proteins of different amino-acid compositions. Marine Biology (1971)

Fitzgerald and Szmant. Biosynthesis of ‘essential’ amino acids by scleractinian corals. The Biochemical journal (1997) vol. 322 ( Pt 1) pp. 213-21

Harder and Qian. Induction of larval attachment and metamorphosis in the serpulid polychaete Hydroides elegans by dissolved free amino acids: isolation and identification. Marine ecology progress series (1999)

Hoeegh-Guldberg and Williamson. Availability of two forms of dissolved nitrogen to the coral Pocillopora damicornis and its symbiotic zooxanthellae. Marine Biology (1999)

“Jaeckle and Manahan. Feeding by a “”nonfeeding”" larva: uptake of dissolved amino acids from seawater by lecithotrophic larvae of the gastropod Haliotis rufescens. Marine Biology (1989)”

Jin and Qian. Amino acid exposure modulates the bioactivity of biofilms for larval settlement of Hydroides elegans by altering bacterial community components. Marine ecology progress series (2005)

Johnson and Wendt. Availability of dissolved organic matter offsets metabolic costs of a protracted larval period for Bugula neritina (Bryozoa). Marine Biology (2007) vol. 151 (1) pp. 301-311

Lewin and Hellebust. Utilization of Glutamate and Glucose for Heterotrophic Growth by the Marine Pennate Diatom Nitzschia laevis. Marine Biology (1978)

Mente et al. Protein turnover, amino acid profile and amino acid flux in juvenile shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei: effects of dietary protein source. Journal of Experimental Biology (2002)

Nagai and Nagai. Feeding factors for the sea anemone Anthopleura midorii. Marine Biology (1973)

Roberts et al. Primary site and initial products of ammonium assimilation in the symbiotic sea anemone Anemonia viridis. Marine Biology (1999)

Strom et al. Responses of marine planktonic protists to amino acids: feeding inhibition and swimming behavior in the ciliate Favellasp. Aquatic Microbial Ecology (2007)

Tyler et al. Uptake of urea and amino acids by the macroalgae Ulva lactuca (Chlorophyta) and Gracilaria vermiculophylla (Rhodophyta). Marine ecology progress series (2005)

Wheeler et al. Regulation of in vitro and in vivo CaCO3 crystallization by fractions of oyster shell organic matrix. Marine Biology (1988)

Williams et al. Amino acid uptake and respiration by marine heterotrophs. Marine Biology (1976)

Tags: amino acids, chemistry, coral, Husbandry, Invertebrates, nutrients, shrimp

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