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JPR Advance Access originally published online on September 22, 2009
Journal of Plankton Research 2009 31(12):1453-1463; doi:10.1093/plankt/fbp085
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Regulation of filter-feeding house components in response to varying food regimes in the appendicularian, Oikopleura dioica

Christofer Troedsson1,2,3, Jean-Marie Bouquet1, Ragnhild Skinnes1, José-Luis Acuña4, Karin Zech1, Marc E. Frischer5 and Eric M. Thompson1,*

1 Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology, Thormøhlensgate 55, N-5008 Bergen, Norway 2 Department of Biology, University of Bergen, N-5020 Bergen, Norway 3 UNIFOB Environmental Research, Thormøhlensgate 49B, 5006 Bergen, Norway 4 Department of Biologia de Organismos y Sistemas, Universidad de Oviedo, Area de Ecologia, Oviedo E-33071, Spain 5 Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, 10 Ocean Science Circle, Savannah, GA 31411, USA

* CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: eric.thompson{at}sars.uib.no

Received on April 20, 2009; accepted on August 22, 2009


  Abstract

The frequent repetitive secretion of filter-feeding houses of the tunicate, Oikopleura dioica represents investment of a substantial proportion of total body carbon. Despite this investment, the filter-feeding strategy of pelagic tunicates has been proposed as an adaptation to oligotrophic environments. Here, we examined the capacity of O. dioica to modify its house renewal rate (HRR) and expression of component proteins, oikosins, as well as ingestion rates of different sized particles in response to varying food regimes. There were no significant changes in HRR (0.26 ± 0.07 SD house h–1) with age or food concentration throughout the life cycle. Our data suggest that the complex pattern of endoreduplicating cycles in the oikoplastic epithelium probably limits the capacity to reduce the energetic output of house replacement as a response to a limiting food environment. On the other hand, at the molecular level, there was differential regulation of component house proteins when animals were cultured in standard versus limiting food regimes. Animals pre-conditioned in each of these regimes and subsequently challenged with an identical mixture of large and small particles exhibited different retention efficiencies of larger food particles. Taken together, these results raise the possibility that a limited ability to modulate house architecture may underlie the differential particle retention efficiencies observed.

Corresponding editor: Roger Harris


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