Analysis of Pulmonate Mucus by Infrared Spectroscopy

Abstract

Infrared (IR)-spectroscopy can analyse a range of molecules in diverse biological systems and has already found use in forensic biology, clinical diagnosis, and environmental monitoring. Using IR-spectroscopy to analyse gastropod mucus represents an original application of this technique. This study describes the differences in mucus composition that appear to be species specific, as well as identifying many of the molecular components of the mucus itself. All species studied showed IR absorbance bands indicating the presence of amide bonds as well as profiles associated with the sugar side chains, indicating a commonality associated with the gel properties of pedal mucus which may have a role in locomotion. The speciesspecific band profiles may provide an indication of the differing roles required of the mucus by the specific gastropod tested.

Comportamento agregativo em Subulina octona (Brugüière) (Mollusca, Subulinidae)

“…O muco depositado durante a locomoção é composto por lectinas, mucopolissacarídeos, glicoproteínas, proteí-nas, ácido urônico, ácido siálico, hexosaminas e uma variedade de outras moléculas, que podem constituir uma fonte de informações sobre a identidade e o estado fisiológico dos indivíduos (GAINEY 1976, SKINGSLEY et al 2000. Há evidências de que os moluscos são capazes de acessar, através do muco deixado por um coespecífico, o estado sexual do indivíduo e a direção da locomoção (TOWSEND 1974, COOK 1992, KAROWE et al 1993, SKINGSLEY et al 2000. É provável que S. octona seja capaz de reconhecer a presença de um indivíduo da mesma espécie pela identificação das características do muco.…”

Water vapour sorption by the pedal mucus trail of a land snail

“…The calculation of D requires a measurement of ρ of the bare surface followed by a second measurement after The raw data shown in Figure 1 was transformed to obtain the Re D and Im' D spectra presented in Figure 2. The transformed data show the presence of certain characteristic absorption bands [9,19] that are expected in IR spectra obtained from pedal mucus. The broad absorption band centered around 3300 cm -1 in the Re D spectrum signifies the presence of hydrogen-bonded water, which is expected since the mucus trail was analyzed shortly after casting and therefore is only partially dry.…”

“…Quite recently, the first clear infrared (IR) spectra were reported for the mucus produced by nine different species of gastropods [9]. Transmission IR spectroscopy was employed to detect the characteristic IR absorption bands of the mucopolysaccharides as well as the glycoproteins.…”

“…Note that since this measurement was obtained in the ambient atmosphere, a small amount of CO 2 absorption is present in the spectra (as seen in the characteristic doublet around 2300 cm -1 ). [9,19] Several characteristic absorption bands are present in the Re D and Im'D spectra, including the CH 2 (1443 cm -1 ) and CH 3 (1410 cm -1 ) deformations of the carbon backbones and C-O stretching (1040 -1150 cm -1 ) of the sugar side chains. In general, the Im'D spectra offer better resolution in comparison to the Re D spectra.…”

“…Two major drawbacks of SDS-PAGE are that it is time-consuming and it can potentially introduce artifacts through extraction and derivation procedures. Compared to SDS-PAGE and similar techniques, IR spectroscopy is attractive for several reasons [9]. It is fast and does not require any sample extraction.…”