학술논문

Parental diets determine the embryonic fatty acid profile of the tropical nudibranch Aeolidiella stephanieae: the effect of eating bleached anemones
Document Type
Report
Source
Marine Biology. August 1, 2012, Vol. 159 Issue 8, p1745, 7 p.
Subject
United States
Language
English
ISSN
0025-3162
Abstract
Aeolidiella stephanieae is a stenophagous tropical nudibranch that feeds exclusively on glass anemones of the genus Aiptasia. These sea anemones usually harbour endosymbiotic photosynthetic dinoflagellates that contribute to the nutrition of their host by providing photosynthetates, such as fatty acids (FA). The present work determined the effect of parental diets on the FA profile of A. stephanieae embryos by feeding breeding pairs of this nudibranch with either symbiotic or aposymbiotic A. pallida. Contrasting FA profiles, namely in the levels of palmitic acid (16:0) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3), were recorded for both parental diets and egg masses produced by nudibranchs eating either symbiotic or aposymbiotic A. pallida. Noteworthy effects of parental dietary FAs on egg masses were also observed, particularly for DHA, which is mainly synthetized by the endosymbionts of A. pallida. Additionally, the present study also highlights how bleaching events may promote cascading effects on the nutrition of marine species with a stenophagous diet, such as A. stephanieae.
Introduction Fatty acids (FA) are among the most relevant chemical compounds in invertebrate embryos, as they play a key role in cell membrane structure and can also be used as [...]