Free amino acids in cultured higher marine fungi

Graduation date: 1974The free amino acid content of the intracellular pools in higher\ud marine fungi was determined by thin-layer and gas-liquid chromatography.\ud The organisms investigated include:\ud Ascomycetes; Nais inornata, Leptosphaeria oraemaris, Corollospora\ud maritima, Haligena elaterophora, Halosphaeria mediosetigera, Halosphaeria\ud appendiculata, Halosphaeria quadriremis, Lignincola Laervis\ud and Remispora hamata, and Fungi Imperfecti; Zalerion maritimum and\ud Culcitalna archraspora.\ud All organisms investigated were found to contain: alanine,\ud glycine, valine, proline, leucine, isoleucine, serine, threonine,\ud hydroxyproline, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, methionine,\ud phenylalanine, ornithine, lysine, tyrosin, tryptophan, cystine,\ud cysteine and histidine.\ud The widespread occurrence of hydroxyproline is of particular\ud interest. This compound was identified in all species examined\ud and since it has been reported to occur only rarely in terrestrial\ud fungi, it may have chemotaxonomical value in delineating obligate\ud marine fungi from terrestrial forms. The detection of hydroxyproline was considered in light of the\ud experimental procedures employed. The use of water as the extracting\ud solvent, a long extraction period (48 hours) and two different\ud analytical procedures facilitated the identification of the compound.\ud The role of fungi in the chemical ecology of the marine\ud environment was considered