Jiang X C, Wang D, Halpern M
Department of Biochemistry, SUNY Health Center, Brooklyn 11203.
Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 1989 Oct;34(2):213-21. doi: 10.1016/0091-3057(89)90302-x.
Electric stimulation of earthworms, Lumbricus terrestris, causes secretion of a yellow mucus which has alarm properties for conspecifics and chemoattractive properties for garter snakes. An alarm pheromone was isolated and purified to homogeneity from the mucus by means of permeation, thin-layer and high performance liquid chromatographies. The purified substance was highly active as an alarm chemosignal to earthworms (L. terrestris), but it did not elicit alarm responses from either sandworms (Nereis virens) or bloodworms (Glycera debranciata). It was not a snake chemoattractant. The alarm pheromone could not be retained with 1 kDa cut-off dialysis tubing, and it was eluted from a Bio-gel P2 column ahead of p-nitrophenol. These data suggest an apparent mass greater than 139 Da but less than 1 kDa. The order of solubility of this alarm pheromone is H2O greater than DMSO greater than MeOH greater than 2-propanol greater than acetone. It was thermostable, and it fully retained activity after heating at 100 degrees C for 1 hour. This alarm pheromone fluoresced under u.v. light, and it showed an optimal excitation wavelength of 420 nm and emission wavelength of 465 nm.
对蚯蚓（陆正蚓）进行电刺激会使其分泌一种黄色黏液，这种黏液对同种个体具有警报特性，对束带蛇具有化学吸引特性。通过渗透、薄层和高效液相色谱法从黏液中分离并纯化出一种警报信息素，使其达到同质。纯化后的物质作为对蚯蚓（陆正蚓）的警报化学信号具有高活性，但对沙蚕（多毛纲沙蚕属）或血虫（格氏吻沙蚕）均未引发警报反应。它不是蛇的化学引诱剂。该警报信息素无法被截留分子量为1 kDa的透析管截留，且在Bio - gel P2柱上比对硝基苯酚先被洗脱。这些数据表明其表观质量大于139 Da但小于1 kDa。这种警报信息素的溶解度顺序为水大于二甲基亚砜大于甲醇大于2 - 丙醇大于丙酮。它具有热稳定性，在100℃加热1小时后仍完全保留活性。这种警报信息素在紫外光下会发出荧光，其最佳激发波长为420 nm，发射波长为465 nm。
