Amino acid diagenesis in the marine bivalve Arctica islandica Linné from northwest European sites: Only time and temperature?

Collections of the molluscan species Arctica islandica from seven sites in Norway, Scotland and the North Sea, ranging in age from recent to Early Pleistocene, have been sampled for amino acid analyses. The shells were sampled in profiles through the valves at different distances from the umbo. In the fossil material a general trend of increasing degree of isoleucine (lle) epimerisation and decreasing amino acid concentrations were found going from the inner part of the valve to the outer. Although less pronounced, there is a similar trend from the central part of the valve to the margin. As the concentration of alloisoleucine (alle) remains nearly constant, the observed changes in alle/lle ratios are a result of variations in the amount of isoleucine. The amino acid composition is fairly uniform in recent shells and the observed gradients are established in mid‐Holocene samples. Therefore, it is suggested that the gradients are established during rapid early degradation of the protein, possibly due to microbiological activity. Differences in alle/lle ratios observed in molluscs from sites of the same age and same thermal history could be explained by differences in the exposure to amino‐acid‐consuming microorganisms during the very early stage of diagenesis.