Homocystine, Vitamin B12, Choline, and Methionine in the Nutrition of the Laying Fowl

Abstract

THE ability to methylate homocystine to form methionine has been reported for the chick (Jukes et al., 1950Jukes et al., 1951Jukes et al., 1952; Patrick, 1952) and for the rat (Bennett, 1950; Stekol and Weiss, 1950). These workers have further reported that vitamin B12 enhances this conversion. Vitamin B12 has been shown to influence the response to choline in the case of chicks (Gillis and Norris, 1951; Briggs et al., 1950; Schaeffer et al., 1949) and also in the case of rats (Stekol and Weiss, 1950; Bennett et al., 1951). Abbott and DeMasters (1940) and Lucas et al. (1946) have reported a need for choline in the diet of the mature fowl. It has been suggested that choline can be synthesized by the mature fowl (Lucas et al., 1946; Ringrose and Davis, 1946). The latter workers also observed an apparent need for methionine in the diet to serve as a source of labile methyl …