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Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Design and Use of an Apparatus for Quantifying Bivalve Suspension Feeding at Sea
Published on: September 5, 2018
FREE D-AMINO ACIDS IN THE TISSUES OF MARINE BIVALVES
Abstract:
Seventeen species of marine bivalves were surveyed for the presence of free D-alanine, D-aspartate, and D-valine in their tissues. D-aspartate was found in several species in concentrations approaching those of L-aspartate. D-alanine was detected-particularly in lucinid and vesicomyid clams-at levels exceeding manyfold those of L-alanine. D-valine was absent in all cases. A test of a hydrolysate of bulk soluble proteins of Lucinoma aequizonata, a species characterized by extremely high levels of D-alanine, showed no major incorporation of D-alanine into proteins. The implications of these results, for previously published analytical data and for human nutrition, are discussed.
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