291 Amines 



and, even when it is, much of the cellular nitrogen is derived 

 from them by transamination. 



Within the frame of our present endeavor there seems to have 

 been little systematic, comparative study of the amine metab- 

 olites of microorganisms. This has been true particularly of 

 the fungi, which generally have been considered to have a 

 poorer nitrogen metabolism than the bacteria. Apparently this 

 situation is being remedied, at least for higher fungi. Recently 

 the amine content of 105 species, representing 18 families of 

 higher fungi, was investigated.^ It was found that ammonia 

 was distributed universally, and that the ammonia content in- 

 creased with the age of the fruiting body. Methylamine oc- 

 curred in 22 species, diinethylamine in 10, trimethylamine in 8, 

 isoamylamine in 19 and /^-phenylethylamine in 4. Earlier work 

 was reviewed also, a distinction being made between the amines 

 present in fresh fruiting bodies and those present after au- 

 tolysis. 



Also an exceptionally thorough analysis was made recently 

 of the basic constituents of the fruiting body of a single basidio- 

 mycete, Polyporus sulfureusJ' These included amines, basic 

 amino acids, nucleotides and betaines. Many of the simple 

 amines produced by Claviceps purpurea have been identified 

 during the extensive studies of ergot, and these are listed in the 

 introduction to the section on ergot alkaloids in the chapter on 

 Heterocycles. 



Muscarine, a compound which might have been classified un- 

 der several different chapter headings, is apparently a deriva- 

 tive of a l-amino-3,6-desoxyhexose and is probably more di- 

 rectly connected with sugar metabolism than many of the 

 amines listed here. 



Amino sugars and other complex amines are listed elsewhere 

 under more appropriate classifications. 



It has been shown that putrescine furnishes the 4-carbon 

 atom moiety of spermine and spermidine in Neurospora crassaj 

 and that methionine supplies the 3-carbon chain of spermidine 

 in the same organism."^ It is known that ATP and Mg"* are re- 



^Elard Stein von Kamienski, Planta 50 331 (1958). 

 6 P. H. List, Planta Med. 6 424 (1958). 



^ H. Tabor, S. M. Rosenthal and C. W. Tabor, Federation Proc. 15 

 367 (1956). 



8 Ronald C. Greene, /. Am. Chem. Soc. 79 3929 (1957). 



