Amino acids and reef aquarium: Glycine

- Representatives of 10 phyla removed significant quantities of glycine from solution during an observation period of 16 to 24 hrs (Stephens and Schinske 1961)
- Glycine is not essential nutritional amino acid for prawns (Cowey and Forster 1971)
- Most abundant DFAA in southern California coastal waters (Clark et al 1972, Carlucci et a 1984)
- Bivalve Mytilus edulis has very high glycine uptake rate (Péquignat 1973, Jørgensen 1983)
- Glycine was not able to elicit feeding response in a stony coral Montastrea cavernosa (Lehman and Porter 1973)
- Glycine evoked opening but not food ingestion in sea anemone Anthopleura midorii (Nagai and Nagai 1973)
- Glycine is found in very large amounts in the skeleton of gorgonians and anthipatharians (Goldberg 1976)
- Many symbiotic bacteria in sponges can utilize glycine (Wilkinson 1978)
- Phytoplankton can use glycine as a sole nitrogen source but only when glycine is present in very large concentration (>2.5 mM) (Berland et al 1979)
- Polychaete Nereis virens is able to use glycine and together with some other amino acids may contribute 7-12% of the metabolism (Jørgensen 1979)
- Uptake by natural heterotrophic bacterial population was rapid (Iturriaga and Zsolnay 1981, Donderski et al 1998)
- Mussel larvae (Mytilus edulis) can effectively compete for glycine with an equivalent biomass of bacteria taken from their natural environment (Manahan and Richardson 1983)
- Together with aspartate most abundant amino acid in fixed carbon pool of light incubated soft coral Capnella gaboensi (Farrant et al 1987)
- One of the most abundant amino acid of shell matrix fraction of bivalve Crassostrea virginica (Wheeler et al 1988)
- Brooded embryos of the ophiuroid Amphipholis squamata, nonfeeding trochophore stage of the annelid Neanthes arenaceodentata and lecithotrophic larvae of the red abalone Haliotis rufescens can feed by taking up glycine directly from seawater (Jaeckle and Manahan 1989)
- Some marine phytoplankton is not able to efficiently utilize glycine (Palenik and Morel 1990)
- Glycine is by far the most abundant amino acid in organic matrix of gorgonian Leptogorgia virgulata (Kingsley et al 1990)
- Ambient concentration in reef waters 2.6 – 43.2 nM (0.000195 – 0.00324 mg/l) (Ferrier 1991). Similar amounts found also by Sommerville and Preston (2001) and Hoeegh-Guldberg and Williamson (1999),
- Glycine is most abundant amino acid in skeleton of Antipathes fiordensis (Cnidaria, Antipatharia) (Goldberg 1991)
- Glycine is easily released from sediments by enzymic activity and might thus be a nutrient source for deposit feeders (Mayer et al 1995)
- Glycine is among the most abundant amino acids in Pocillopora damicornis (Gates et a 1995, see also Bock 2008)
- Part of larval attachment inductor for sedentary polychaetes (Harder and Qian 1999)
- Glycine, together with Asx, is most abundant amino acid in coral reef detritus and algae (Crossman et al 2001, Crossman et al 2005)
- Glycine was one of more abundant components of DCAA in marine sediments and was utilized effectively by anaerobic bacteria (Guldberg et al 2002)
- Glycine is elevated in the organic matrix of hard corals (Ingalls et al 2003, Gupta et al 2006)
- Macroalgae are able to utilize glycine (Tyler et al 2005)
- Glycine is the most successful feeding attractant for post-larval spiny lobster (Williams 2007)
- Uptake rate was relatively slow for Stylophora pistillata (Grover et al 2008)
References:
Berland et al. Concentration Requirement of Glycine as Nitrogen Source for Supporting Effective Growth of Certain Marine Microplanktonic Algae. Mar Biol (1979)
Bock. The Control of Carbon Translocation in a Sea Anemone-dinoflagellate Symbiosis from New Zealand. Victoria University of Wellington (2008)
Carlucci et al. Diel Production and Microheterotrophic Utilization of Dissolved Free Amino Acids in Waters Off Southern California. APPL. ENVIRON. MICROBIOL. (1984)
Clark et al. Dissolved Free Amino Acids in Southern California Coastal Waters. Limnol. Oceanogr. (1972)
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. Mar Biol (1971)
Crossman et al. Detritus as Food for Grazing Fishes on Coral Reefs. Limnol. Oceanogr (2001)
Crossman et al. Nutritional ecology of nominally herbivorous fishes on coral reefs. Mar Ecol Prog Ser (2005)
Donderski et al. Utilization of Low Molecular Weight Organic Compounds by Marine Neustonic and Planktonic Bacteria. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies (1998)
Farrant et al. Nutrition of the temperate Australian soft coral Capnella gaboensis. Mar Biol (1987)
Ferrier. Net uptake of dissolved free amino acids by four scleractinian corals. Coral Reefs (1991)
Gates et al. Free amino acids exhibit anthozoan “host factor” activity: they induce the release of photosynthate from symbiotic dinoflagellates in vitro. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (1995) vol. 92 (16) pp. 7430-4
Goldberg. Chemistry and structure of skeletal growth rings in the black coral Antipathes fiordensis (Cnidaria, Antipatharia). Hydrobiologia (1991)
Goldberg. Comparative study of the chemistry and structure of gorgonian and antipatharian coral skeletons. Mar Biol (1976)
Grover et al. Uptake of dissolved free amino acids by the scleractinian coral Stylophora pistillata. J Exp Biol (2008) vol. 211 (Pt 6) pp. 860-5
Guldberg et al. Utilization of Marine Sedimentary Dissolved Organic Nitrogen by Native Anaerobic Bacteria. Limnol. Oceanogr (2002)
Gupta et al. Aspartic acid concentrations in coral skeletons as recorders of past disturbances of metabolic rates. Coral Reefs (2006) vol. 25 (4) pp. 599-606
Harder and Qian. Induction of larval attachment and metamorphosis in the serpulid polychaete Hydroides elegans by dissolved free amino acids: isolation and identification. Mar Ecol Prog Ser (1999)
Hoeegh-Guldberg and Williamson. Availability of two forms of dissolved nitrogen to the coral Pocillopora damicornis and its symbiotic zooxanthellae. Mar Biol (1999)
Ingalls et al. Preservation of organic matter in mound-forming coral skeletons. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (2003)
Iturriaga and Zsolnay. Transformation of some dissolved organic compounds by a natural heterotrophic population. Mar Biol (1981)
Jaeckle and Manahan. Feeding by a “nonfeeding” larva: uptake of dissolved amino acids from seawater by lecithotrophic larvae of the gastropod Haliotis rufescens. Mar Biol (1989)
Jørgensen. Patterns of uptake of dissolved amino acids in mussels (Mytilus edulis). Mar Biol (1983)
Jørgensen. Uptake of L-valine and other amino acids by the polychaete Nereis virens. Mar Biol (1979)
Kingsley et al. Collagen in the spicule organic matrix of the gorgonian Leptogorgia virgulata. Biol Bull (1990) vol. 179 pp. 207-13
Lehman and Porter. Chemical Activation Of Feeding In The Caribbean Reef-Building Coral Montastrea Cavernosa. Biol Bull (1973)
Manahan and Richardson. Competition studies on the uptake of dissolved organic nutrients by bivalve larvae (Mytilus edulis) and marine bacteria. Mar Biol (1983)
Mayer et al. Bioavailable Amino Acids in Sediments: A Biomimetic, Kinetics-Based Approach. Limnol. Oceanogr. (1995)
Nagai and Nagai. Feeding factors for the sea anemone Anthopleura midorii. Mar Biol (1973)
Palenik and Morel. Amino Acid Utilization by Marine Phytoplankton: A Novel Mechanism. Limnol. Oceanogr. (1990)
Péquignat. A Kinetic and Autoradiographic Study of the Direct Assimilation of Amino Acids and Glucose by Organs of the Mussel Mytilus edulis. Mar Biol (1973)
Sommerville and Preston. Characterisation of dissolved combined amino acids in marine waters. Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom. (2001) vol. 15 (15) pp. 1287-1290
Stephens and Schinske. Uptake of Amino Acids by Marine Invertebrates. Limnol. Oceanogr. (1961)
Tyler et al. Uptake of urea and amino acids by the macroalgae Ulva lactuca (Chlorophyta) and Gracilaria vermiculophylla (Rhodophyta). Mar Ecol Prog Ser (2005)
Wheeler et al. Regulation of in vitro and in vivo CaCO3 crystallization by fractions of oyster shell organic matrix. Mar Biol (1988)
Wilkinson. Microbial associations in sponges. II. Numerical analysis of sponge and water bacterial populations. Mar Biol (1978)
Williams. Feeds development for post-larval spiny lobster: A review. Bull. Fish. Res. Agen. No (2007)