The Complete Sequence of a 40-kDa Actin-Modulating Protein from the Earthworm Lumbricus terrestris

Ceramide glycanase from the earthworm, Lumbricus terrestris.

Ceramide glycanase (CGase) is an enzyme that cleaves the linkage between the sugar chain and the ceramide. To make this enzyme readily available, we have developed a simple method for preparing it from the earthworm, Lumbricus terrestris. The method involves Bio-Gel A-0.5m, octyl-Sepharose and p-aminophenylthiogalactoside-agarose column chromatography. By gel filtration, the molecular mass of e...

The nitrogenous metabolism of the earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris).

Scaling of the hydrostatic skeleton in the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris.

The structural and functional consequences of changes in size or scale have been well studied in animals with rigid skeletons, but relatively little is known about scale effects in animals with hydrostatic skeletons. We used glycol methacrylate histology and microscopy to examine the scaling of mechanically important morphological features of the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris over an ontogenet...

Ontogenetic scaling of burrowing forces in the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris.

In hydrostatic skeletons, it is the internal fluid under pressure surrounded by a body wall in tension (rather than a rigid lever) that enables the stiffening of the organism, the antagonism of muscles and the transmission of force from the muscles to the environment. This study examined the ontogenetic effects of body size on force production by an organism supported with a hydrostatic skeleto...

Non-heme protein in the giant extracellular hemoglobin of the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris.

The protein/heme mass ratio for the extracellular hemoglobin of the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris has been redetermined. We find a value of 19,000 g of protein per mol of heme. Four major, heme-containing chains (a, b, c, and d), present in equal proportions, have a total molecular mass, with four hemes, of 69,664 Da based on their sequences. The intact hemoglobin comprises 12 subunits that fo...