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Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 201, Issue 16 2445-2453, Copyright © 1998 by Company of Biologists
JOURNAL ARTICLES |
J Wang and AE Douglas
Department of Biology, University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO1 5YW, UK. aed2@york.ac.uk.
When corals and allied animals are deprived of their symbiotic algae, the ammonium content in their tissues rises. This is commonly interpreted as evidence for nitrogen recycling (i.e. algal assimilation of animal waste ammonium into amino acids that are released back to the animal), but it can also be explained as nitrogen conservation by the animal (i.e. reduced net ammonium production in response to the receipt of algal photosynthetic carbon). This study discriminated between these interpretations in two ways. First, the increased ammonium concentration in the sea anemone Aiptasia pulchella, caused by darkness or depletion of the alga Symbiodinium, was partially or completely reversed by supplementing the medium with organic carbon compounds (e.g. <IMG src="/images/symbols/&agr ;.gif" WIDTH="9" HEIGHT="12" ALIGN= "BOTTOM" NATURALSIZEFLAG="3">-ketoglutarate). Second, the activity of the ammonium-assimilating enzyme glutamine synthetase and the concentration of protein amino acids in the free amino acid pool of the animal, which were depressed by darkness and algal depletion, were restored by exogenous carbon compounds. It is concluded that organic carbon, whether derived from algal photosynthate or exogenously, promotes the animal's capacity for ammonium assimilation and reduces ammonium production from amino acid degradation. These processes contribute to nitrogen conservation in the animal, but they confound the interpretation of various studies on nitrogen recycling by symbiotic algae.
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L. F. Whitehead and A. E. Douglas Metabolite comparisons and the identity of nutrients translocated from symbiotic algae to an animal host J. Exp. Biol., September 15, 2003; 206(18): 3149 - 3157. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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S. K. Davy, D. A. Trautman, M. A. Borowitzka, and R. Hinde Ammonium excretion by a symbiotic sponge supplies the nitrogen requirements of its rhodophyte partner J. Exp. Biol., November 15, 2002; 205(22): 3505 - 3511. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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