Cargando…

Metabolomic Assessment of Induced and Activated Chemical Defence in the Invasive Red Alga Gracilaria vermiculophylla

In comparison with terrestrial plants the mechanistic knowledge of chemical defences is poor for marine macroalgae. This restricts our understanding in the chemically mediated interactions that take place between algae and other organisms. Technical advances such as metabolomics, however, enable new...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Nylund, Göran M., Weinberger, Florian, Rempt, Martin, Pohnert, Georg
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3244454/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22216258
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029359
_version_ 1782219735908220928
author Nylund, Göran M.
Weinberger, Florian
Rempt, Martin
Pohnert, Georg
author_facet Nylund, Göran M.
Weinberger, Florian
Rempt, Martin
Pohnert, Georg
author_sort Nylund, Göran M.
collection PubMed
description In comparison with terrestrial plants the mechanistic knowledge of chemical defences is poor for marine macroalgae. This restricts our understanding in the chemically mediated interactions that take place between algae and other organisms. Technical advances such as metabolomics, however, enable new approaches towards the characterisation of the chemically mediated interactions of organisms with their environment. We address defence responses in the red alga Gracilaria vermiculophylla using mass spectrometry based metabolomics in combination with bioassays. Being invasive in the north Atlantic this alga is likely to possess chemical defences according to the prediction that well-defended exotics are most likely to become successful invaders in systems dominated by generalist grazers, such as marine macroalgal communities. We investigated the effect of intense herbivore feeding and simulated herbivory by mechanical wounding of the algae. Both processes led to similar changes in the metabolic profile. Feeding experiments with the generalist isopod grazer Idotea baltica showed that mechanical wounding caused a significant increase in grazer resistance. Structure elucidation of the metabolites of which some were up-regulated more than 100 times in the wounded tissue, revealed known and novel eicosanoids as major components. Among these were prostaglandins, hydroxylated fatty acids and arachidonic acid derived conjugated lactones. Bioassays with pure metabolites showed that these eicosanoids are part of the innate defence system of macroalgae, similarly to animal systems. In accordance with an induced defence mechanism application of extracts from wounded tissue caused a significant increase in grazer resistance and the up-regulation of other pathways than in the activated defence. Thus, this study suggests that G. vermiculophylla chemically deters herbivory by two lines of defence, a rapid wound-activated process followed by a slower inducible defence. By unravelling involved pathways using metabolomics this work contributes significantly to the understanding of activated and inducible defences for marine macroalgae.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3244454
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2011
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-32444542012-01-03 Metabolomic Assessment of Induced and Activated Chemical Defence in the Invasive Red Alga Gracilaria vermiculophylla Nylund, Göran M. Weinberger, Florian Rempt, Martin Pohnert, Georg PLoS One Research Article In comparison with terrestrial plants the mechanistic knowledge of chemical defences is poor for marine macroalgae. This restricts our understanding in the chemically mediated interactions that take place between algae and other organisms. Technical advances such as metabolomics, however, enable new approaches towards the characterisation of the chemically mediated interactions of organisms with their environment. We address defence responses in the red alga Gracilaria vermiculophylla using mass spectrometry based metabolomics in combination with bioassays. Being invasive in the north Atlantic this alga is likely to possess chemical defences according to the prediction that well-defended exotics are most likely to become successful invaders in systems dominated by generalist grazers, such as marine macroalgal communities. We investigated the effect of intense herbivore feeding and simulated herbivory by mechanical wounding of the algae. Both processes led to similar changes in the metabolic profile. Feeding experiments with the generalist isopod grazer Idotea baltica showed that mechanical wounding caused a significant increase in grazer resistance. Structure elucidation of the metabolites of which some were up-regulated more than 100 times in the wounded tissue, revealed known and novel eicosanoids as major components. Among these were prostaglandins, hydroxylated fatty acids and arachidonic acid derived conjugated lactones. Bioassays with pure metabolites showed that these eicosanoids are part of the innate defence system of macroalgae, similarly to animal systems. In accordance with an induced defence mechanism application of extracts from wounded tissue caused a significant increase in grazer resistance and the up-regulation of other pathways than in the activated defence. Thus, this study suggests that G. vermiculophylla chemically deters herbivory by two lines of defence, a rapid wound-activated process followed by a slower inducible defence. By unravelling involved pathways using metabolomics this work contributes significantly to the understanding of activated and inducible defences for marine macroalgae. Public Library of Science 2011-12-21 /pmc/articles/PMC3244454/ /pubmed/22216258 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029359 Text en Nylund et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Nylund, Göran M.
Weinberger, Florian
Rempt, Martin
Pohnert, Georg
Metabolomic Assessment of Induced and Activated Chemical Defence in the Invasive Red Alga Gracilaria vermiculophylla
title Metabolomic Assessment of Induced and Activated Chemical Defence in the Invasive Red Alga Gracilaria vermiculophylla
title_full Metabolomic Assessment of Induced and Activated Chemical Defence in the Invasive Red Alga Gracilaria vermiculophylla
title_fullStr Metabolomic Assessment of Induced and Activated Chemical Defence in the Invasive Red Alga Gracilaria vermiculophylla
title_full_unstemmed Metabolomic Assessment of Induced and Activated Chemical Defence in the Invasive Red Alga Gracilaria vermiculophylla
title_short Metabolomic Assessment of Induced and Activated Chemical Defence in the Invasive Red Alga Gracilaria vermiculophylla
title_sort metabolomic assessment of induced and activated chemical defence in the invasive red alga gracilaria vermiculophylla
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3244454/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22216258
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029359
work_keys_str_mv AT nylundgoranm metabolomicassessmentofinducedandactivatedchemicaldefenceintheinvasiveredalgagracilariavermiculophylla
AT weinbergerflorian metabolomicassessmentofinducedandactivatedchemicaldefenceintheinvasiveredalgagracilariavermiculophylla
AT remptmartin metabolomicassessmentofinducedandactivatedchemicaldefenceintheinvasiveredalgagracilariavermiculophylla
AT pohnertgeorg metabolomicassessmentofinducedandactivatedchemicaldefenceintheinvasiveredalgagracilariavermiculophylla