Responses ofMytilus edulis L. to low oxygen tension: Anaerobic metabolism of the posterior adductor muscle and mantle tissues

Abstract

1. Alanine, malate and succinate accumulated in the posterior adductor muscle ofMytilus edulus L. held at the reduced oxygen tensions of 120 mm and 83 mm Hg (Figs. 2–4). The accumulations of alanine and malate were greater at the lower of the two oxygen tensions. 2. Glutamate also accumulated in the posterior adductor muscle (Fig. 1). 3. The time course of the accumulation and decline of substrates paralleled that of the physiological acclimation ofMytilus to low oxygen tensions (see Bayne and Livingstone, 1977). 4. Alanine and glutamate did not accumulate in the mantle tissues at the reduced oxygen tensions (Table 1). 5. No qualitative or quantitative changes were seen in the activities of the enzyme pyruvate kinase and PEP-carboxykinase from the posterior adductor muscle and mantle tissues, during exposure to low oxygen tension.