The Metabolites of a Marine Mollusk Mytilus edulis: Isolation of Taurine and Compositions of Free Fatty Acids and Free Amino acids

The metabolites of marine mollusk Mytilus edulis were isolated and characterized, revealing the presence of the rare free fatty acids and proteinogenic amino acids together with a non-proteinogenic free amino acid, taurine. The free fatty acids in this organism were particularly interesting for the presence of both unusual n-6 acid [20:4 (n-6)] and triple bond containing acid (2,5-octadecadiynoic acid). In addition to the proteinogenic amino acids commonly found in proteins, non-proteinogenic free amino acid taurine was isolated and the structure was determined by its physicochemical properties. Recently taurine has been given much interest in the molecular level because of diverse biological activities and the medicinal properties. Furthermore, the result of the analyses of analyses of free amino acids showed that glycine, glutamic acid, serine and alanine, which were considered to be related to the taste of this organism, are predominantly present