Metabolism of amino acids in Ascaridia galli: decarboxylation reactions

Production of ¹⁴CO₂ from 12 carbon-labelled amino acids by Ascaridia galli was studied. Appreciable amounts of CO₂ were evolved from alanine, aspartate, glutamate, serine, leucine and valine by intestines, ovaries, cuticle and intact worms, in that order, but not from lysine, proline and tyrosine. Maximum CO₂ produced by whole worms was from serine, while with isolated organs it was from alanine. For cuticle, the decarboxylations of alanine, aspartate and glutamate were found to be associated with the mitochondrial fraction.