The biological role of octopine in the squid,Loligo vulgaris (Lamarck)

Summary The enzymatic activities of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, octopine dehydrogenase and lactate dehydrogenase were determined fromLoligo vulgaris. Octopine dehydrogenase displays the highest activity yet recorded for this enzyme, exceeding glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase sixfold and lactate dehydrogenase 365-fold (Table 1).During jet propulsion swimming octopine accumulates instead of lactate (Table 2), while phosphoarginine, the phosphagen of the squid, is depleted (Table 3).The formation of octopine is discussed in relation to anaerobic metabolism which might occur during burst activity in cephalopods.The following abbreviations are used AK arginine kinase (2.7.3.3) - GAPDH glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (1.2.1.12) - LDH L-lactate - NAD oxidoreductase (1.1.1.27) - ODH octopine - NAD oxidoreductase (1.5.1.11) - DTT dithiothreitol - dw dry weight (about 20% of the fresh weight) This investigation was generously supported by The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft grant No.: (Ze 40/13)