title: High amounts of sulphur-amino acids in three symbiotic mytilid bivalves from deep benthic communities.
abstract: Three sulphur-amino acids, taurine, hypotaurine and thiotaurine, are shown to exist in deep-sea symbiotic mussels. Their relative and absolute importance differs in the three species of mussels studied and seems to be related to the metabolism of the symbionts. Thiotaurine only occurs in high concentration in thiotrophic species, whereas hypotaurine and taurine are found in all the species studied. Differences in sulphur-amino acid composition may also depend on the physiological condition of the organism or on environmental features. These compounds were previously found in Riftia pachyptila, Calyptogena phaseoliformis and in two hydrothermal vent mussels from the western Pacific. Given their abundance, they may play an essential role in these symbioses.
authors.affiliation: Observatoire océanologique de Banyuls, laboratoire Arago, université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, CNRS Ura 2071, Banyuls-sur-Mer, France.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Pruski
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fiala-Médioni
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Colomines
mesh_terms: D000603:Amino Acids, Sulfur / Q000032:analysis*; D000818:Animals; D049872:Bivalvia / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D013559:Symbiosis; D013654:Taurine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000603:Amino Acids, Sulfur; D013654:Taurine; C003949:hypotaurine