CARBON AND NITROGEN INDIVIDUAL COMPOUNDS
The number of papers is growing. I am not going to post everything listed in the supplemental readings, but the list will give you a sense of where things are headed. Also, I didn’t separate papers by C or N.
REQUIRED
Evershed RP et al (2007) Compound-specific stable isotope analysis in ecology and paleoecology. In Stable Isotopes in Ecology and Environmental Science, 2nd Edition (Michener, R. H., and Lajtha, K., eds.). Blackwell Scientific Publications, Boston, pp. 480-540.
This paper is long. Skim the parts on methods (482-498) and pollution studies (516-518). Focus on the parts on animals
McClelland JW, Montoya JP (2002) Trophic relationships and the nitrogen isotopic composition of amino acids in plankton. Ecology 83: 2173-2180
Key paper examining the differential flow of N into “essential” (source) vs. “non-essential” (trophic) amino acids. Key to many applications in vertebrate ecology, marine N cycling, etc.
Lorrain A, Graham B, Menard F, et al. (2009) Nitrogen and carbon isotope values of individual amino acids: a tool to study foraging ecology of penguins in the Southern Ocean. Marine Ecology-Progress Series 391: 293-306
Haven’t read it yet, but is seems like a cool paper discriminating trophic level from space with N and C isotopes.
Larsen T, Taylor DL, Leigh MB, et al. (2009) Stable isotope fingerprinting: a novel method for identifying plant, fungal, or bacterial origins of amino acids. Ecology 90: 3526-3535
Again, haven’t read it yet, but appears to be digging into the core fractionating processes that distinguish major groups of organisms.
SUPPLEMENTAL PAPERS (broken into major classes)
General Background and Controls on Fractionation
Abelson PH, Hoering TC (1961) Carbon isotope fractionation in formation of amino acids by photosynthetic organisms. PNAS 47: 623-632
In case you are ever feeling smug, recall that these guys did this 50 years ago with big glass tubes and a home-made mass spec, and also cleaved the carboxyl-C off to measure it separately from the R group of the amino acid. This was after Abelson almost discovered the TCA cycle (didn’t connect the dots, always a problem).
Hare PE, Fogel ML, Stafford TW, Mitchell AD, Hoering TC (1991) The isotopic composition of carbon and nitrogen in individual amino acids isolated from modern and fossil proteins. Journal of Archaeological Science 18: 277-292
Hoering was still at it 30 years later, though sadly, not much longer. The best early study of compound specific C and N isotope variations in amino acids.
Howland MR, et al. (2003) Expression of the dietary isotope signal in the compound-specific 13C values of pig bone lipids and amino acids. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 13: 54-65.
A key on controlled feeding experiments on pigs that busts down to the individual compound level. Focus on the individual molecules.
Jim S, Ambrose SH, Evershed RB (2003) Natural abundance stable carbon isotope evidence for the routing and de novo synthesis of bone FA and Cholesterol. Lipids 38: 179–186
First of a series of paper by Jim and the Bristol mafia looking at individual compound isotope compositions from controlled feeding experiments. The goal of these studies is to examine de novo synthesis of compounds vs. routing of compounds from the same compound in diet. Here they examine lipids. In later papers it will be amino acids.
Jim S, Ambrose SH, Evershed RP (2004) Stable carbon isotopic evidence for differences in the dietary origin of bone cholesterol, collagen and apatite: Implications for their use in palaeodietary reconstruction. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 68: 61-72.
A study very similar to Howland et al. (03), but this time on the rats that Ambrose and Norr studied.
Jim S, Jones V, Ambrose SH, Evershed RP (2006) Quantifying dietary macronutrient sources of carbon for bone collagen biosynthesis using natural abundance stable carbon isotope analysis. British Journal of Nutrition 95: 1055-1062
Jim et al. quantify routing of carbon to non-essential amino acids using the Ambrose rat data.
Scott JH, O’Brien DM, Emerson D, et al. (2006) An examination of the carbon isotope effects associated with amino acid biosynthesis. Astrobiology 6: 867–880
Similar to Larsen et al. (2009) in goals and approach.
McCullagh J, Gaye-Siessegger J, Ulfert Focken U (2008) Determination of underivatized amino acid 13C by liquid chromatography/isotope ratio mass spectrometry for nutritional studies: the effect of dietary non-essential amino acid profile on the isotopic signature of individual amino acids in fish. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 22: 1817–1822
Haven’t read it, but I saw the talk in 2008. They are doing interesting experiments that show (probably unsurprisingly), that routing of amino acids from diet to non-essential amino acids is dependent on the distribution of amino acids in diet. This is going to matter for N isotopes too, but I don’t know of anyone who has studied it.
Petzke KJ, Lemke S (2009) Hair protein and amino acid 13C and 15N abundances take more than 4 weeks to clearly prove influences of animal protein intake in young women with a habitual daily protein consumption of more than 1 g per kg body weight. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 23: 2411-2420
Might be some interesting stuff in here on turnover.
Styring AK, Sealy JC, Evershed RP (2010) Resolving the bulk 15N values of ancient human and animal bone collagen via compound-specific nitrogen isotope analysis of constituent amino acids. Geochimica et Cosmochemica Acta 74: 241-251
Covering some of the same turf as Hare et al. (1991) 20+ years later and only for N. Still, it is nice to see the patterns replicated and to get their take on what is controlling N variation.
Dietary and Ecological Applications
Chamberlain PM, Bull ID, Black HIJ, Ineson P, Evershed RP (2006)
Collembolan trophic preferences determined using fatty acid distributions and compound-specific stable carbon isotope values. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 38: 1275–1281
An example of a powerful approach to studying soil processes using molecules from soil organisms in cases where it would be difficult to physically separate and analyze them.
Popp BN, Graham BS, R. J. Olson RJ, et al. (2007) Insight into the trophic ecology of yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, from compound-specific nitrogen isotope analysis of proteinaceous amino acids, in T. Dawson and R. Siegwolf (eds.) Stable isotopes as indicators of ecological change. Elsevier Academic Press, Burlington, MA, pp. 173–190
Key paper laying out use of amino acid N isotope analysis to deconvolute trophic level from migration. Lorrain et al. (2009) use the same approach, but add C.
Corr LT, Sealy JC, Horton MC, Evershed RP (2005) A novel marine dietary indicator utilizing compound-specific bone collagen amino acid 13C values of ancient humans. Journal of Archaeological Science 32: 321-330
The title is self-explanatory
Corr LT, Richards MP, Jim S, et al. (2008) Probing dietary change of the Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchi individual, an ancient glacier body from British Columbia: I. Complementary use of marine lipid biomarker and carbon isotope signatures as novel indicators of a marine diet.Journal of Archaeological Science 35: 2102-2110
Nice, overly thorough work on this individual and his diet.
Corr LT, Richards MP, Grier C, et al. (2009) Probing dietary change of the Kwäday Dän Ts’ìnchi individual, an ancient glacier body from British Columbia: II. Deconvoluting whole skin and bone collagen 13C values via carbon isotope analysis of individual amino acids. Journal of Archaeological Science 36: 12-18
More nice, overly thorough work on this individual and his diet.
Oceanographic application
Loick N, Gehre M, Voss M (2007) Stable nitrogen isotopes in essential versus non-essential amino acids of different plankton size fractions. Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies 43: 281-293
Following some of the patterns implied in the studies by McClelland and Montoya (2002) deeper into oceanography.
Hannides CCS, Popp BN, Landry MR, Graham BS (2009) Quantification of zooplankton trophic position in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre using stable nitrogen isotopes. Limnology and Oceanography 54: 50–61
Following some of the patterns implied in the studies by McClelland and Montoya (2002) and setting the stage for lots of work on marine food webs, including the tuna study above.
McCarthy MD, Benner R, Lee C, et al. (2004) Amino acid carbon isotopic fractionation patterns in oceanic dissolved organic matter: an unaltered photoautotrophic source for dissolved organic nitrogen in the ocean? Marine Chemistry 92: 123– 134
Using carbon isotope fingerprinting and an understanding of trophic processes to understand origins and fates of different pools of organic matter in the ocean.
McCarthy MD, Benner R, Lee C, et al. (2007) Amino acid nitrogen isotopic fractionation patterns as indicators of heterotrophy in plankton, particulate, and dissolved organic matter. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 71: 4727-4744
Using nitrogen isotope fingerprinting and an understanding of trophic processes to understand origins and fates of different pools of organic matter in the ocean.
Roland LA, McCarthy MD, Guilderson T (2008) Sources of molecularly uncharacterized organic carbon in sinking particles from three ocean basins: A coupled 14C and 13C approach. Marine Chemistry 111: 199-213
Similar to McCarthy et al. (2004, 2007) but now with 14C as well as stable isotopes.