Distribution of Carnosine in the Several Species of Fishes and Shell Fishes

It has been well known that carnosine or carnosine-like substance is distributed widely in the skeletal muscules of mammalia and birds. Our previous experiments showed that a mutant strain of Escheriehia coli (#79) requiring β-alanine moiety of pantothenic acid responded highly to either carnosine or carnosine-like β-alanine dipeptide. In the present paper, a basic study to develop a microbiological assay method for carnosine utilizing the mutant strain is described. By means of this method, the amount of carnosine distributed in the several species of fishes and shell fishes is determined. (a) A large amount of carnosine is detected in the skeletal muscules of eel and a moderate amount in conger eel, cuttlefish, corb-shell, top-shell, ark-shell, and sweetsmelt. (b) On the other hand, only negligible amount of carnosine is found in mackerel, jackmackerel, sardine, flatfish, sea-bream, octopus, tiger prawn, shrimp, crab, short-neck clam, and abalone.