56 The Nature of Biological Diversity 



Robin, 1952; Thoai, Roche, Rohin, and Thiem, 1953a, h, c; Thoai and 

 Rohin, 1954a, b; see also Ennor and Morrison, 1958). In addition to 

 creatine phosphate, moreover, Roche's group identified two further 

 new phosphagens, one based on glycocyarnine and another on tauro- 

 cyamine. Yet another new base, lombricin, was subsequently dis- 

 covered in earthworms and it seems probable that yet another is 



NH 2 NHo NHo 



/ / / c 



HN=C HN = C HN = C 



S f (D > V (2) > V H 3 

 (CHo)* CHo CHo 



I ' 3 I * I Z 



CH-NHo COOH COOH 



I c 

 COOH 



Arginine Glycocyarnine Creatine 



\ 

 \ 

 \ 



* NHo NH 2 



y / / 



HN=C HN=C 



\ \ 



NH NH COOH 



I I I 



CHo CHo CH-NHo 



I c I c II I c 



CHo CHoO P OCHo 



I c * I 4 



S0 3 H OH 



Taurocyamine Lombricine 



FIG. 2. Relationships of guanidine bases of animal phosphagens: (1) Transamidi- 

 nation of glycine; (2) transmethylation of glycocyarnine; (3) transamidination of 

 taurine. 



present in leeches. The formulas of these bases are shown in Fig. 2. 

 Evidently, then, the annelids are a particularly versatile group. 



The discovery of creatine phosphate in worms upset earlier ideas 

 about vertebrate evolution, even though something could still be sal- 

 vaged from the wreck. But perhaps the most interesting aspect of 

 Roche's series of studies was that glycocyarnine, known for many years 

 as a metabolic intermediate between arginine and creatine, occui's in 

 certain annelids. There seems here to be an evolutionary sequence; 





