Nitrogen excretion and expression of urea cycle enzymes in the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.): a comparison of early life stages with adults
For many years, the urea cycle was considered to be relatively unimportant in the life history of most teleost fishes. In previous studies, we were surprised to find that newly hatched freshwater rainbow trout embryos had relatively high activities of the key urea cycle enzyme, carbamoyl phosphate s...
Main Authors: | , , |
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Other Authors: | |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
1999
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.335.8600 http://jeb.biologists.org/content/202/19/2653.full.pdf |
Summary: | For many years, the urea cycle was considered to be relatively unimportant in the life history of most teleost fishes. In previous studies, we were surprised to find that newly hatched freshwater rainbow trout embryos had relatively high activities of the key urea cycle enzyme, carbamoyl phosphate synthetase III (CPSase III), and other enzymes in the pathway, whereas adult trout had much lower or non-detectable activities. The present study tested the hypothesis that urea cycle enzyme expression is unique to early stages of rainbow trout. In marine Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) embryos, CPSase III, ornithine transcarbamoylase (OTCase), glutamine synthetase (GSase) and arginase activities were all expressed prior to hatching. Urea excretion was detected shortly after fertilization and rates were high relative to those of |
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