Earthworm cuticle collagen

The amino acid profile of earthworm chemoattractant so closely corresponds to the amino acid profiles reported for earthworm cuticle collagen (EWC) (Spiro and Bhoyroo, 1980) and earthworm cuticle gelatin (EWG)... 

Earthworm cuticle collagen was purified by the methods of Murray et al. (1982) and Josse and Harrington (1964). Lyophilized EWC placed on an AcA 44 column produced an elution profile (Fig. 6) very similar to the elution profile of EWW (Fig. 3). Large F2 peaks and large F4 peaks were observed. Behavioral testing showed that the F2 peak contained chemoattractant activity (Fig. 7) as did the EWC prior separation on the column. 

Fig. 7. Mean tongue flick interest score of snakes presented with earthworm wash (EWW), solutions of earthworm cuticle collagen (EWC), the high molecular weight peak fractions of earthworm cuticle collagen (F2 or F2EWC), and the low molecular weight peak fractions of earthworm cuticle collagen (F4 or F EWC).

While much of our work has been done with chemoattractant, we have also found some things that are not chemoattractants but are part of earthworm cuticle collagen. The tripeptide, glycylhydroxyprolylserine, which has been isolated from earthworm cuticle collagen (Goldstein and... 

Adams, 1970) and galactose, a major carbohydrate of earthworm cuticle collagen are inactive as chemoattractants for garter snakes. 

The combined physical, chemical and behavioral evidence presented above strongly suggests the notion that at least a component of earthworm chemoattractant is a part of the earthworm cuticle collagen molecule. 

Goldstein, A., and Adams, E., 1970, Glycylhydroxyprolyl sequences in earthworm cuticle collagen glycylhydroxyprolylserine, J. Biol. 

Maser, M. D., and Rice, R. V., 1962, Biophysical and biochemical properties of earthworm-cuticle collagen, Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 63 255. 

Muir, L., and Lee, Y. C., 1969, Structures of the D-galactose oligosaccharides from earthworm cuticle collagen, J. Biol. Chem., 244 2343. 

Reed and Rudall (182) studied the cuticle of the earthworm Allolobo-phora longa), securing by an ingenious stripping technique electron micrographs of layers of the crossed collagen-type fibrils secreted by columnar epithelial cells. Most important for the present discussion they reported inability to observe in their material the banded appearance characteristic of the usual connective tissue fibrils. 

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