Biomineralisation by earthworms – an investigation into the stability and distribution of amorphous calcium carbonate

Table 1 Amino acid composition of milky fluid extracted from the calciferous gland of Lumbricus terrestris earthworms

Sample number	1	2	3
Amino acid content/picomol mg⁻¹
Asx	53914 ± 33	82116 ± 489	126484 ± 3622
Glx	59950 ± 218	89784 ± 1218	135972 ± 2598
Ser	33449 ± 151	57377 ± 1005	77156 ± 1266
L Thr	26546 ± 35	42055 ± 428	58750 ± 1860
L His	16640 ± 668	26532 ± 1338	44539 ± 106
Gly	55022 ± 1808	106161 ± 4433	128852 ± 1961
L Arg	25831 ± 159	58534 ± 528	59731 ± 1632
Ala	43439 ± 25	70961 ± 422	101471 ± 3208
Tyr	12024 ± 209	20348 ± 354	21983 ± 604
Val	31258 ± 168	49848 ± 510	73772 ± 2197
Phe	20818 ± 68	32369 ± 296	50379 ± 1857
Leu	50905 ± 386	74546 ± 466	119497 ± 3190
Ile	26320 ± 179	39651 ± 119	63205 ± 1371
Met	358 ± 80	610 ± 98	1242 ± 614

The error term is one standard deviation about the mean of duplicate analyses. LODs are on the order of 1–60 picomoles mg⁻¹ for each amino acid.

ISSN: 1467-4866