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http://hdl.handle.net/10773/16865
Title: | Photoprotection in sequestered plastids of sea slugs and respective algal sources |
Author: | Cruz, Sónia Cartaxana, Paulo Newcomer, Rebecca Dionísio, Gisela Calado, Ricardo Serôdio, João Pelletreau, Karen N. Rumpho, Mary E. |
Issue Date: | 2015 |
Publisher: | Nature Publishing |
Abstract: | Some sea slugs are capable of retaining functional sequestered chloroplasts (kleptoplasts) for variable periods of time. The mechanisms supporting the maintenance of these organelles in animal hosts are still largely unknown. Non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) and the occurrence of a xanthophyll cycle were investigated in the sea slugs Elysia viridis and E. chlorotica using chlorophyll fluorescence measurements and pigment analysis. The photoprotective capacity of kleptoplasts was compared to that observed in their respective algal source, Codium tomentosum and Vaucheria litorea. A functional xanthophyll cycle and a rapidly reversible NPQ component were found in V. litorea and E. chlorotica but not in C. tomentosum and E. viridis. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the absence of a functional xanthophyll cycle in a green macroalgae. The absence of a functional xanthophyll cycle in C. tomentosum could contribute to the premature loss of photosynthetic activity and relatively short-term retention of kleptoplasts in E. viridis. On the contrary, E. chlorotica displays one of the longest functional examples of kleptoplasty known so far. We speculate that different efficiencies of photoprotection and repair mechanisms of algal food sources play a role in the longevity of photosynthetic activity in kleptoplasts retained by sea slugs. |
Peer review: | yes |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/10773/16865 |
DOI: | 10.1038/srep07904 |
ISSN: | 2045-2322 |
Appears in Collections: | CESAM - Artigos |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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Cruz et al. - 2015 - Photoprotection in sequestered plastids of sea slu.pdf | 739.22 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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