Structures and concentrations of surfactants in gut fluid of the marine polychaete Arenicola marina

Marine invertebrate deposit feeders secrete surfactants into their gut fluid in concentrations sufficient to induce micelle formation, enhancing solubilization of sedimentary lipids. We isolated and identified 3 related surfactant molecules from the deposit-feeding polychaete lugworm Arenicola marina. Surfactants were isolated and separated by a combination of solvent extraction and thin-layer and gas chromatography. Identification was performed using mass and infrared spectrometry, coupled to various derivatization and hydrolysis reactions. A. marina produces a mixture of related yet distinct anionic surfactants composed of branched, C9, saturated and unsaturated fatty acids that are amide linked to leucine or glycine residues, showing some similarity to crustacean surfactants. The critical micelle concentration of the mixture of these surfactants in gut fluid was about 2 mM, and total concentrations ranged from 5.5 to 19.5 mM. The hydrophilic amide linkage helps to explain previous observations that gut surfactants do not adsorb onto sediment transiting the gut.