Proteins from carbonates?

[Paul Hearty]

Dear Nick,

People in the amino acid racemization trade have pretty much perfected
the extraction of protein and amino acids from carbonates of all
varieties including marine and land mollusks, foraminfera, ostracodes,
and bulk carbonate sands (as in dunes or marine deposits).

I refer you to Prof. Darrell Kaufman at Northern Arizona University
Amino Acid laboratory for details of the extraction technique.

Good luck, and please let us know if you have any additional
questions,
Sincerely,
Paul
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Dr. Paul J. Hearty
School of Earth Sciences
James Cook University
Townsville 4811 QLD
Australia
Phone 61 (07) 4781 5283
Fax: -- 4725 1501
-----Original Message-----
From: Nicholas Polunin <N.Polunin at newcastle.ac.uk>
To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Date: Tuesday, 4 December 2001 2:21
Subject: Proteins from carbonates?


Dear members

A PhD student and I are trying to extract small amounts  (ie <1% total
dry weight) of all
N-containing materials particularly protein from fish otoliths and
teeth. The thought
occurred that some of you might have done this from coral materials.

We are currently considering acidifying the material to remove
carbonate, but not only is the
amount of acid needed quite large, a product is calcium chloride which
takes up water and therefore
means we cannot accurately weigh the deposit.

Suggestions for practical ways out of this impasse will be much
appreciated!

Nick
Dr Nicholas Polunin
Reader
Dept of Marine Sciences
University of Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU
Tel +44 (0)191 222 6675/6661
Fax +44 (0)191 222 7891
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/mscmweb/
5th ICEF (2003) Environmental future of aquatic ecosystems
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/icef
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