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Modulation of digestive physiology and biochemistry in Mytilus californianus in response to feeding level acclimation and microhabitat

The intertidal mussel Mytilus californianus is a critical foundation species that is exposed to fluctuations in the environment along tidal- and wave-exposure gradients. We investigated feeding and digestion in mussels under laboratory conditions and across environmental gradients in the field. We a...

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Autores principales: Connor, Kwasi M., Sung, Aaron, Garcia, Nathan S., Gracey, Andrew Y., German, Donovan P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Company of Biologists Ltd 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5051655/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27402963
http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/bio.019430
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author Connor, Kwasi M.
Sung, Aaron
Garcia, Nathan S.
Gracey, Andrew Y.
German, Donovan P.
author_facet Connor, Kwasi M.
Sung, Aaron
Garcia, Nathan S.
Gracey, Andrew Y.
German, Donovan P.
author_sort Connor, Kwasi M.
collection PubMed
description The intertidal mussel Mytilus californianus is a critical foundation species that is exposed to fluctuations in the environment along tidal- and wave-exposure gradients. We investigated feeding and digestion in mussels under laboratory conditions and across environmental gradients in the field. We assessed whether mussels adopt a rate-maximization (higher ingestion and lower assimilation) or a yield-maximization acquisition (lower ingestion and higher assimilation) strategy under laboratory conditions by measuring feeding physiology and digestive enzyme activities. We used digestive enzyme activity to define resource acquisition strategies in laboratory studies, then measured digestive enzyme activities in three microhabitats at the extreme ends of the tidal- and wave-exposure gradients within a stretch of shore (<20 m) projected sea-ward. Our laboratory results indicated that mussels benefit from a high assimilation efficiency when food concentration is low and have a low assimilation efficiency when food concentration is high. Additionally, enzyme activities of carbohydrases amylase, laminarinase and cellulase were elevated when food concentration was high. The protease trypsin, however, did not increase with increasing food concentration. In field conditions, low-shore mussels surprisingly did not have high enzyme activities. Rather, high-shore mussels exhibited higher cellulase activities than low-shore mussels. Similarly, trypsin activity in the high-shore-wave-sheltered microhabitat was higher than that in high-shore-wave-exposed. As expected, mussels experienced increasing thermal stress as a function of reduced submergence from low to high shore and shelter from wave-splash. Our findings suggest that mussels compensate for limited feeding opportunities and thermal stress by modulating digestive enzyme activities.
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spelling pubmed-50516552016-10-07 Modulation of digestive physiology and biochemistry in Mytilus californianus in response to feeding level acclimation and microhabitat Connor, Kwasi M. Sung, Aaron Garcia, Nathan S. Gracey, Andrew Y. German, Donovan P. Biol Open Research Article The intertidal mussel Mytilus californianus is a critical foundation species that is exposed to fluctuations in the environment along tidal- and wave-exposure gradients. We investigated feeding and digestion in mussels under laboratory conditions and across environmental gradients in the field. We assessed whether mussels adopt a rate-maximization (higher ingestion and lower assimilation) or a yield-maximization acquisition (lower ingestion and higher assimilation) strategy under laboratory conditions by measuring feeding physiology and digestive enzyme activities. We used digestive enzyme activity to define resource acquisition strategies in laboratory studies, then measured digestive enzyme activities in three microhabitats at the extreme ends of the tidal- and wave-exposure gradients within a stretch of shore (<20 m) projected sea-ward. Our laboratory results indicated that mussels benefit from a high assimilation efficiency when food concentration is low and have a low assimilation efficiency when food concentration is high. Additionally, enzyme activities of carbohydrases amylase, laminarinase and cellulase were elevated when food concentration was high. The protease trypsin, however, did not increase with increasing food concentration. In field conditions, low-shore mussels surprisingly did not have high enzyme activities. Rather, high-shore mussels exhibited higher cellulase activities than low-shore mussels. Similarly, trypsin activity in the high-shore-wave-sheltered microhabitat was higher than that in high-shore-wave-exposed. As expected, mussels experienced increasing thermal stress as a function of reduced submergence from low to high shore and shelter from wave-splash. Our findings suggest that mussels compensate for limited feeding opportunities and thermal stress by modulating digestive enzyme activities. The Company of Biologists Ltd 2016-07-11 /pmc/articles/PMC5051655/ /pubmed/27402963 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/bio.019430 Text en © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.
spellingShingle Research Article
Connor, Kwasi M.
Sung, Aaron
Garcia, Nathan S.
Gracey, Andrew Y.
German, Donovan P.
Modulation of digestive physiology and biochemistry in Mytilus californianus in response to feeding level acclimation and microhabitat
title Modulation of digestive physiology and biochemistry in Mytilus californianus in response to feeding level acclimation and microhabitat
title_full Modulation of digestive physiology and biochemistry in Mytilus californianus in response to feeding level acclimation and microhabitat
title_fullStr Modulation of digestive physiology and biochemistry in Mytilus californianus in response to feeding level acclimation and microhabitat
title_full_unstemmed Modulation of digestive physiology and biochemistry in Mytilus californianus in response to feeding level acclimation and microhabitat
title_short Modulation of digestive physiology and biochemistry in Mytilus californianus in response to feeding level acclimation and microhabitat
title_sort modulation of digestive physiology and biochemistry in mytilus californianus in response to feeding level acclimation and microhabitat
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5051655/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27402963
http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/bio.019430
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