title: Presence of a partial urea cycle in the leech, Poecilobdella granulosa.
abstract: Ornithine carbamoyltransferase (OCT) and arginase, but not arginine synthetase (AS), were detected in the body wall and gut tissues of the leech. The activities of these enzymes were not altered by starvation. The high activity of arginase in body wall is probably due to the association of the latter with botryoidal tissue. Hirudineans, which evolved from oligochaete ancestors, appear to have lost the citrulline-arginine segment of the urea cycle due to their ammonotelic mode of nitrogen excretion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Poona, Pune, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Natesan
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jayasundaramma
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ramamurthi
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Reddy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001119:Arginase / Q000378:metabolism; D001123:Argininosuccinate Lyase / Q000378:metabolism; D001124:Argininosuccinate Synthase / Q000378:metabolism; D002221:Carbamyl Phosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D007865:Leeches / Q000378:metabolism*; D009097:Multienzyme Complexes / Q000378:metabolism; D009954:Ornithine Carbamoyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D014508:Urea / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D009097:Multienzyme Complexes; C019726:arginine synthetase system; D002221:Carbamyl Phosphate; D014508:Urea; D009954:Ornithine Carbamoyltransferase; D001119:Arginase; D001123:Argininosuccinate Lyase; D001124:Argininosuccinate Synthase