Free amino acids in the digestive system of Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, sampled in January, March and May

• Main Authors: Heyen, Simone, Töpker, Verena, Kopke, Bernd, Cakić, Nevenka, Hüppe, Lukas, Meyer, Bettina, Wilkes, Heinz
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA
• Subjects: Alanine; amino acids; ANT_END_KiGuMi_1; ANT_END_KiGuMi_17; ANT_END_KiGuMi_21; ANT_END_KiGuMi_5; ANT_END_LEG_3; ANT_END_LEG2; Antarctic Endurance; Antarctic krill; Antarctic Peninsula; Arginine; Asparagine; Aspartic acid; beta-Alanine; Bransfield Strait; B vitamins; Coenzyme A thioesters; Continous krill pumping system; Cysteine; Date/Time of event; DEPTH; water; Elevation of event; Euphausia superba; Event label; Gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer; GC-MS; Glutamic acid; Glycine; Isoleucine; Krill; length; Latitude of event; Leucine; Location of event; Longitude of event; Methionine; Organ; Phenylalanine; Proline; Respiratory quinones; Sample ID; Sarcosine; Serine; Sex; Southern Ocean; South Orkney Islands; Threonine; Valine; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctic Krill
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.973181

Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, is a key species in the Southern Ocean with an immense biomass. Ongoing climate change affects their food availability, habitat and survivability. Therefore, markers documenting changes in this species are important to monitor and discover future issues, also because krill-derived products are manufactured for human consumption. Several studies have focused on the composition of krill-derived lipids. However, they may be a potential in other metabolites to serve as tracers identifying shifts in the Antarctic environment. Krill was caught with a continuous krill pumping system in May of 2021 in the Bransfield Strait and in January and March of 2022 at the South Orkney Islands aboard the commercial krill fishing vessel Antarctic Endurance. The stomach, digestive gland and hind gut were dissected and analysed individually. Samples were initially extracted by bead-beating, with individual subsequent extraction steps adjusted for the different metabolic classes. Free amino acids from the digestive system of Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba, were measured in derivatised bead-beater extracts. Measurement of methoxycarbonyl esters was performed with gas chromatography - mass spectrometry. Identification of amino acids was based on standards.