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The particulate fraction prepared after homogenization of planaria Polycelis tenuis in a buffer containing 3 mM EDTA and 15 mM 2-mercaptoethanol possesses an adenylate cyclase activity which was enhanced two-fold by serotonin and 20-fold by the nucleotide analog guanosine 5'-(beta-gamma-imino)triphosphate, Gpp(NH)p; when present together, the two activators exhibited a marked synergistic effect. The effect of serotonin was dose dependent, with a KA of 2 micrometer and a Hill coefficient of 0.4. In the presence of 10 micrometer Gpp(NH)p, these values became 45 nM and 1.5, respectively. The effect of serotonin was due to an increase in the maximal velocity of the enzyme and was specifically inhibited by methiotepin. The effect of methiotepin was half-maximal at 0.2 micrometer in the absence of Gpp(NH)p and at 5.0 micrometer in its presence. Planaria thus appear to be the lowest organisms in which guanine nucleotides are active upon adenylate cyclase. As serotonin is normally present in planaria, it is postulated that a serotonin-dependent regulation of adenylate cyclase activity plays a physiological role in this species.

As a part of an investigations on the lipid metabolism in Platyhelminthes, the acoel Convoluta roscoffensis, which harbors the green alga Platymonas convoluta as a symbiont, was studied. Isotopic tracer experiments established that the acoel lacks the ability to synthesize de novo long-chain saturated and unsaturated fatty acids and depends on its algal symbiont for these compounds. The acoel's fatty acid composition closely resembles that of the alga but differs from those of other animals; the acoel's polyunsaturated fatty acids are of the plant type (omega 3 family) rather than of the animal type (omega 6 family). The acoel also lacks the ability to synthesize sterols de novo. It contains 24-methylenecholesterol synthesized by the algae and, in addition, significant amounts of cholesterol, which is probably a host modification product of the algal sterol. With fatty acids provided by the symbiont, the acoel has the ability to synthesize its own complex lipids. The acoel contains relatively large amounts of triglyceride, phosphatidylcholine, and ethanolamine plasmalogen. These compounds are either not present at all or present only in minute amounts in the symbiotic alga. Since acoels belong to the most primitive forms of the present-day flatworms, the observed metabolic defects in this organism suggest that mechanisms for the biosynthesis of fatty acids and sterols were lost early during the evolution of the Platyhelminthes, and that this phenomenon is widespread within the phylum.