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Accumulation of a bitter amino acid, pulcherrimine, in sea urchin ovaries and its relevance to the annual reproductive cycle

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  • Chemistry and Biochemistry
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Abstract

Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus in the Tohoku area is not utilized as a fishery product because the ovaries have a bitter taste almost all year. To discover the cause, we compared the annual reproductive cycles and ovarian accumulation of a bitter amino acid, pulcherrimine, in H. pulcherrimus collected at Mikuni (Fukui Prefecture), where it is fished in summer, and Iwaki (Fukushima Prefecture), where it is not utilized. At both sites, pulcherrimine increased in maturing ovaries as oogenesis proceeded from autumn to winter, decreased after spawning in spring, but remained in spent and immature ovaries for a few months. In Mikuni, pulcherrimine was scarcely detected in the ovaries for several months in summer. However, in Iwaki, late spawning delayed the disappearance of pulcherrimine in summer, and early initiation of oogenesis advanced the restart of pulcherrimine accumulation in autumn compared to Mikuni. Consequently, the period when the ovaries were palatable because of the absence of pulcherrimine during summer was short in Iwaki. The major cause of such short-term palatability could be the lower seawater temperature in the Tohoku area. Furthermore, pulcherrimine was never detected in other sea urchins, although a bitter taste was found in the mature ovaries of some species.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Ken Nonaka at the Nagasaki Prefectural Institute of Fisheries, Tadamitsu Igari at the Kagoshima Prefectural Fisheries Technology and Development Center, Yasunobu Nakabayashi at the Akita Prefectual Institute of Fisheries, Katsumi Takanashi at Aomori Prefectural Aquaculture Research Center, Daichi Nakano and Koji Kodama at Fukui Prefectural Fisheries Experimental Station, for collecting wild sea urchins. We also thank Tomonori Azumaya at the Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency for his help to estimate sea surface temperature at Mikuni and Iwaki, and Akemi Sakaguchi, and Hiroaki Saito at the former National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, and Ryuji Kuwahara at the Japan Fisheries and Education Agency, and Shin-Kwon Kim at the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology for technical assistance. A portion of this study was conducted as part of a research project ‘‘Research and Development Projects for Application in the New Policy of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries,’’ funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan. The remainder was financially supported by the Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency.

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  1. Katashi Sugimoto

    Present address: Fukui Chuo-Uoichi Co. Ltd., Owada, Fukui, 910-8578, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Seafood Safety and Technology Division, Fisheries Technology Institute, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 236-8648, Japan

    Yuko Murata

  2. Fukushima Prefectural Fisheries and Marine Science Research Centre, Onahamashimokajiro, Iwaki, Fukushima, 970-0316, Japan

    Ken Saito

  3. Fukui Prefectural Fisheries Experimental Station, Urasoko, Tsuruga, Fukui, 914-0843, Japan

    Katashi Sugimoto

  4. Tateyama Marine Laboratory, Marine and Coastal Research Center, Ochanomizu University, Kou-yatsu, Tateyama, Chiba, 294-0301, Japan

    Masato Kiyomoto

  5. Kushiro Field Station, Fisheries Technology Institute, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, Katsurakoi, Kushiro, Hokkaido, 085-0802, Japan

    Tatsuya Unuma

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  1. Yuko Murata
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Correspondence to Yuko Murata.

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Murata, Y., Saito, K., Sugimoto, K. et al. Accumulation of a bitter amino acid, pulcherrimine, in sea urchin ovaries and its relevance to the annual reproductive cycle. Fish Sci 87, 371–381 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-021-01496-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-021-01496-8

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