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The snakehead Channa asiatica accumulates alanine during aerial exposure, but is incapable of sustaining locomotory activities on land through partial amino acid catabolism

Shit F. Chew^1,*, Mei Y. Wong¹, Wai L. Tam² and Yuen K. Ip²

¹ Natural Sciences, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616, Republic of Singapore
² Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 117543, Republic of Singapore

View larger version (16K): [in a new window]   Fig. 1. The effects of terrestrial exposure for 2 days followed by resubmersion on the rates of (A) ammonia and (B) urea excretion by C. asiatica. Values are means ± S.E.M. (N=4). aSignificantly different from Day 1 value, P<0.05; bSignificantly different from Day 2 value, P<0.05; csignificantly different from Day 3 value, P<0.05. S, submerged; T, terrestrial.

View larger version (35K): [in a new window]   Fig. 2. The effects of terrestrial exposure for up to 48 h on the concentrations of (A) ammonia and (B) urea in the muscle (open bars), liver (shaded bars) and plasma (hatched bars) of C. asiatica. Values are means ± S.E.M. (N=4). aSignificantly different from the value of 0 h, S, P<0.05; bsignificantly different from the value of 6 h, T, P<0.05; csignificantly different from the value of 12 h, T, P<0.05; dsignificantly different from the value of 24 h, T, P<0.05; esignificantly different from the value of 48 h, T, P<0.05. S, submerged; T, terrestrial; 48 h, S, fasted control.

View larger version (18K): [in a new window]   Fig. 3. Effects of 24 h terrestrial exposure under a 12 h:12 h L:D regime or in constant darkness on urea (open bars), ammonia (hatched bars), alanine (shaded bars) and TFAAs (black bars) levels in the muscle of C. asiatica. Values are means ± S.E.M. (N=4).

View larger version (11K): [in a new window]   Fig. 4. Proposed pathway of partial catabolism of certain amino acids, producing alanine without releasing ammonia, in C. asiatica when it is active on land. GDH, glutamate dehydrogenase; GS, glutamine synthetase; OAA, oxaloacetate.