Post‐mortem Degradation of Adenine Nucleotides in Muscle of the Lobster, Homarus americanus

Abstract
SUMMARY— Thin‐layer chromatography showed that postmortem degradation of adenine nucleotides in the tail muscle of lobster (Homarus americanus) followed the route: adeno‐sine 5′‐triphosphate (ATP) → adenosine 5′‐diphosphate (ADP) → adenosine S'monophosphate (AMP) → inosine 5′‐mono‐phosphate (IMP) + inosine (Ino) → hypoxanthine (Hx). KCI extracts (0.6M) also degraded ATP by this route. Such extracts contained a weak AMP‐aminohydrolase activity that was activated by ATP, but no adenosine aminohydrolase could be detected. Neither of these aminohydrolases were found in extracts made with water or 0.0244 K‐succinate.