Abstract
Blood sugar metabolism of the isopod Ligia exotica Roux was studied in relation to chitin synthesis during the moult cycle. The blood sugars were found to occur free, as well as bound with blood proteins, during all moult stages, as in Emerita asiatica. The variety of free blood sugars is smaller in L. exotica; it comprises only glucose and glucose-6-phosphate. The protein-bound blood sugars are glucose and glucosamine. The blood-volume values do not differ markedly during the moult cycle. Estimations of blood sugars showed a marked rise of sugar levels in the blood during the premoult phase, and a subsequent fall during the freshmoult phase, when chitin is actively synthesised. The chitin values also showed a definite correlation with the blood-sugar values. The increased resorption of chitin during the premoult stage, and its liberation into the blood stream as glucosamine, is indicative of its reutilisation in chitin synthesis as in E. asiatica and the genus Cecropia. As more immediate precursors of chitin, such as uridine diphosphate and uridine diphophate acetylglucosamine compounds, were absent in the blood, a thorough biochemical study of the epidermis is suggested to locate the intermediate precursors of chitin which are possibly derived from blood sugars.
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Parvathy, K. Blood sugar metabolism during moulting in the isopod crustacean Ligia exotica . Mar. Biol. 9, 323–327 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00372826
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00372826