The colonial hydroid Cordylophora is a carnivore whose feeding is induced by substances released from captured prey. An active molecule, probably the only one, has been isolated from a fraction of the laboratory food of Cordylophora, brine shrimp larvae, and identified on paper chromatograms as the imino acid proline. Reagent proline induces the feeding reaction at 10-5 M. The reaction is specific in that only two α-imino acids very closely related to proline were found to possess significant activity: azetidine-2-carboxylic acid and pipecolic acid. The response to proline is inhibited by magnesium ions and enhanced by phosphate. Since previous studies have shown that the feeding reactions of Hydra, Physalia, and Campanularia are controlled by reduced glutathione, the phylogenetic implications of the proline control of feeding in Cordylophora are discussed. The feeding reactions of both Cordylophora and Hydra are also induced by proteases, suggesting similar mechanisms of induction in the two hydroids.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
Article|
March 01 1963
Proline Control of the Feeding Reaction of Cordylophora
Chandler Fulton
Chandler Fulton
From The Rockefeller Institute, New York.
Search for other works by this author on:
Chandler Fulton
From The Rockefeller Institute, New York.
Dr. Fulton's present address is Department of Biology, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts
Received:
August 07 1962
Online ISSN: 1540-7748
Print ISSN: 0022-1295
Copyright ©, 1963, by The Rockefeller Institute Press
1963
J Gen Physiol (1963) 46 (4): 823–837.
Article history
Received:
August 07 1962
Citation
Chandler Fulton; Proline Control of the Feeding Reaction of Cordylophora . J Gen Physiol 1 March 1963; 46 (4): 823–837. doi: https://doi.org/10.1085/jgp.46.4.823
Download citation file:
Suggested Content
SALT EFFECTS ON EGGS AND NAUPLII OF ARTEMIA SALINA L
J Gen Physiol (July,1931)
Epithelial Conduction in Hydromedusae
J Gen Physiol (October,1968)
THE DISSOCIATION CONSTANTS OF RACEMIC PROLINE AND CERTAIN RELATED COMPOUNDS
J Gen Physiol (January,1926)
Email alerts
Advertisement