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Summary: Lectins Associated With the Feeding Organs of the
Oyster Crassostrea virginica Can Mediate Particle
Selection
EMMANUELLE PALES ESPINOSA1,
*, MICKAEL PERRIGAULT1
, J. EVAN WARD2
,
SANDRA E. SHUMWAY2
, AND BASSEM ALLAM1
1
School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York
11794; and 2
Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, Connecticut 06340
Abstract. Despite advances in the study of particle selection
in suspension-feeding bivalves, the mechanisms upon which
bivalves rely to discriminate among particles have not been
elucidated. We hypothesized that particle sorting in suspen-
sion-feeding bivalves could be based, in part, on a biochemical
recognition mechanism mediated by lectins within the mucus
that covers the feeding organs. Using Crassostrea virginica,
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