Sea urchin Hemicentrotus

The ovaries of the Japanese sea urchin Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus contained a bitter tasting amino acid, pulcherrimine (643) [513]. A sulfonoglycolipid isolated from the shell of the sea urchin Anthocidarias crassispina was a 96 4 mixture of r-0-palmitoyl-3 -0-(6-sulfo-a-D-quinovopyranosyl)glycerol (644) and the myristoyl counterpart (645) [514],... 

With the exception of two sea urchin samples collected from Puerto Rico, most chromium residues reported in echinoderms have been less than l.Omg/kg DW. The elevated levels of 24.0 and 43.0mg/kg FW of whole organism in Puerto Rican sea urchins are exceptions, which were not reflected in sea cucumber muscle from the same vicinity, and thus should be viewed with caution. Echinoderms from the United Kingdom and environments were comparatively low in chromium concentrations were less than 0.46 mg Cr/kg DW whole organism. Embryos of a sea urchin (Anthocidaris sp.) developed normally in solutions containing 3.2. 2 mg Cr/L, but failed to develop at 8.4-10.0 mg Cr/L. Larvae of another species of sea urchin (Hemicentrotus sp.) were more sensitive, showing abnormal development or dying within 24 h at concenttations of < 1.0 mg Cr/L. Hexavalent chromium at 6.0 mg/L was associated with abnormal development in embryos of Anthocidaris crassispina. 

The development of embryos of the sea urchins, Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus and Clypeaster japonicus, is arrested at the blastula stage by treating them with reagents to inhibit proteoglycan synthesis. The formation of completely assembled proteoglycan in sufficient amounts is a prerequisite for the events occurring at the end of the blastula stage. 

Sasaki H, Akasaka K, Shimada H, Shiroya T (1987) Purification and characterization of arylsulfatase from sea urchin Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus) embryos. Comp Biochem Physiol 88B 147-152 Sato R, Omura T (1978) Cytochrome P-450. Academic Press, New York... 

Amongst the proteoglycans synthesized by the developing embryos of the Japanese sea-urchin Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus, dermatan sulphate proteoglycan is the major component. This sulphated polysaccharide seems to have an unusual structure in comparison with the normal mammalian dermatan sulphates in that the latter have only polysaccharide-protein linkages which are resistant to alkaline elimination. 

Kobayashi, N. (1992). Spawning periodicity of sea urchins at Seto IV. Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus, 35(6), 335-345. 

---