Occurrence of Ubiquinone and Rhodoquinone in Parasitic Nematodes, Metastrongylus elongatus and Ascaris lumbricoides var. suis

Abstract

Determination of ubiquinone was carried out in mitochondrial fractions of two parasitic nematodes, lung worms, Metastrongylus elongatus, and round worms, Ascaris lumbricoides var. suis. In mitochondria from the lung worm, which lives under aerobic conditions, ubi-quinone-9 was detected, whereas in mitochondria from the round worm, which lives under anaerobic conditions, ubiquinone was not detected. The concentration of ubi-quinone-9 in the lung worm was 0.72μmole/g of mitochondrial protein. In place of ubiquinone, a quinone analogous to rhodoquinone was detected in the round worm. The present experiment has demonstrated the occurrence of ubiquinone in the phylum Nemathelminthes, and furthermore has provided the first evidence showing the occurrence of a rhodoquinone analogue in the animal tissue.