STARDUST II - Spatial and Temporal Assessment
of high Resolution Depth profiles Using novel Sampling Technologies The fate of pollutants in fluvial and marine sediments in cross-border zones
Kleptoplasty is a remarkable form of symbiosis whereby photosynthetically functional algal chloroplasts are retained by the host organism. Certain sacoglossan sea slugs form such associations and some species such as Elysia viridis (Montagu, 1804) can survive for months without access to their food algae. We report evidence for light-dependent assimilation of ammonium, nitrite, and urea (but not nitrate) in E. viridis with functional kleptoplasts. N uptake was decreased in slugs with reduced chloroplast densities, and after exposure to inhibitors of glutamine synthetase and glutamate synthetase. Incorporation of 15N-labeled substrates was traced into individual hydrolyzable amino acids, with highest incorporation in glutamine-glutamate. N assimilation by kleptoplasts in multicellular hosts constitutes an additional mechanism which may contribute to the unique and long-lived functionality of these symbioses.
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STARDUST II is a project funded by the INTERREG III A programme (France/Walloon Region/Flanders
French-Flemish subprogramme) of the European Community's Regional Development Fund.
Hosted by the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)