Carbohydrate and Amino-acid Composition of the Egg Capsule of the Whelk Buccinum undatum L.

Abstract

THE characteristic monosaccharide sugar spectrum for glycoproteins of animal origin has, until comparatively recently, been regarded as being limited to the two hexosamines, glucosamine and galactosamine; the neutral hexoses, galactose, mannose and occasionally glucose; and the methyl pentose, fucose. One or other of the neuraminic acids is frequently present. The occurrence, in nature, of such monosaccharides as xylose, arabinose and rhamnose has hitherto been regarded as being confined to plants and micro-organisms. The presence, however, of xylose as a key constituent of acid-mucopolysaccharides¹, and also accompanied by ribose, arabinose, galactose, mannose, fucose, glucosamine, galactosamine and sialic acid in a mucoprotein isolated from autoclaved elastin², has recently been reported. In the present investigation, xylose and rhamnose have been found to occur in conjunction with protein in a material of invertebrate origin.