ON DISTRIBUTION AND BIOSYNTHESIS OF 2-AMINOETHYLPHOSPHONATE IN 2 TERRESTRIAL MOLLUSCS

1. 1. 2-Aminoethylphosphonate has been identified in the garden slugs, Lehmannia poirieri and Limus flavus, and in the garden snail, Helix aspersa. 2. 2. In the slug, about 16 per cent of the phosphonate is in the free, acid-extractable state, some 23 per cent is bound to chloroform-soluble lipid, and the remainder is in the residue left after extraction with acid and with lipid solvent. On the other hand, in the snail about 51 per cent of the total phosphonate is acid-soluble, some 32 per cent bound to lipid and 17 per cent to the residual" material. 3. 3. The pattern of label incorporation from Pi32 suggests that in both molluscs the soluble (free) 2-aminoethylphosphonate is the precursor of the bound form. This is contrasted with the biosynthetic pattern in Tetrahymena. 4. 4. It is suggested that phosphoenolpyruvate may be the precursor of the carbon of 2-aminoethylphosphonate. © 1968."