Carbon translocation in zooanthaellae-coelenterate symbioses

Thesis/Dissertation · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5490999

Battey, J F

When host and algal triglycerides synthesized in the symbiotic sea anemone Condylactis gigantea during light and dark incubations in /sup 14/C-bicarbonate and /sup 14/C-acetate were deacylated, more then 80% of the radioactivity was found in the fatty acid moiety. In contrast, triglycerides isolated from zooxanthellae and host incubated in /sup 14/C-glycerol in the dark were found to have more then 95% of their radioactivity in the glycerol moiety. During /sup 14/C-glycerol incubations in the light, radioactivity in the fatty acid moiety of zooxanthellae triglyceride fatty acid moiety stayed below 5% during /sup 14/C-glycerol incubations in the light. These results show neither the zooxanthellae nor host can rapidly convert glycerol to fatty acid. Radioactivity from /sup 14/C-glycerol that does eventually appear in host lipid may have been respired to /sup 14/CO/sub 2/ then photosynthetically fixed by the zooxanthellae and synthesized into lipid fatty acid. The isolated zooxanthellae of C. gigantea contained 3.62 +/- 0.33 mM glycerol, which was 26x the 0.141 +/- 0.02 mM found in the coelenterate tissue. Aposymbiotic coelenterate tissue contained 0.169 +/- 0.05 mM glycerol. The metabolic inhibitors, sodium cyanide, aminooxyacetic acid and cerulenin were used to try and uncouple the production of glycerol by the zooxanthellae from its utilization by the coelenterate host. 10/sup -5/ M NaCN increased the ratio of cross photosynthesis to respiration in both intact tentacles and isolated zooxanthellae, increased translocation from 17.7 +/- 3.5% of total fixed carbon in controls to 43.5 +/- 5.79%, and doubled the amount of photosynthetically fixed carbon accumulating in the coelenterate host over that in controls.

• Research Organization: Georgia Univ., Athens (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5490999
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

550501* -- Metabolism-- Tracer Techniques
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
ACETATES
ALCOHOLS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
CARBON 14 COMPOUNDS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON DIOXIDE FIXATION
CARBON OXIDES
CARBOXYLIC ACID SALTS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CNIDARIA
ESTERS
GLYCEROL
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
LABELLED COMPOUNDS
LIPIDS
METABOLISM
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
PLANKTON
SYMBIOSIS
SYNTHESIS
TRIGLYCERIDES
ZOOPLANKTON