Contribution of chemical characteristics of glycopeptide to dynamics of organic matter in the sea

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26550019
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Environmental dynamic analysis
• Research Institution: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
• Principal Investigator: Tsukasaki Ayumi 国立研究開発法人産業技術総合研究所, 環境管理研究部門, 研究員 (40585402)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 海洋有機物 / 糖鎖 / ペプチド鎖 / 物質循環

Outline of Final Research Achievements

For better understanding of the dynamics of organic matter in the ocean interior, particulate organic matter (POM) in oceanic surface water is a key material as a starting material in food chain and biological carbon pump. In our previous studies we reported that most of POM existed as glycopeptide. The details of molecular-level structures including sugar chains are unknown. In this study, we applied various chemical fractionation and the electrophoretic separation for sugar chains to the POM samples and tried to clarify chemical characteristics of the glycopeptides. Some band and background were detected on electrophoretogram. The bands were sugar chains with unmodified reduced terminus and consistent with 3-13 glucose polymer. The background sugar chains had broad degree of polymerization. These visible sugar chains accounted for only 1.6% of sugar of POM. It was suggested that most of sugars in POM were large polymers which could not migrate in the gel for the electrophoresis.

Free Research Field

生物地球化学