spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif Online submission spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online February 15, 2006
Journal of Experimental Biology 209, 810-816 (2006)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2006
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02081
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Material
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Juhel, G.
Right arrow Articles by Allis, O.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Juhel, G.
Right arrow Articles by Allis, O.

Pseudodiarrhoea in zebra mussels Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas) exposed to microcystins

Guillaume Juhel1,*, John Davenport1, John O'Halloran1, Sarah Culloty1, Ruth Ramsay1, Kevin James2, Ambrose Furey2 and Orla Allis2

1 Department of Zoology, Ecology and Plant Science, and Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Lee Maltings, Prospect Row, Cork, Irelan
2 PROTEOBIO, Mass Spectrometry Centre for Proteomics and Biotoxin Research, Department of Chemistry, Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, Ireland

* Author for correspondence (e-mail: g.juhel{at}mars.ucc.ie)

Accepted 9 January 2006

Microcystins are produced by bloom-forming cyanobacteria and pose significant health and ecological problems. In this study we show that zebra mussels respond differently to different strains of Microcystis aeruginosa, and that a highly toxic strain causes zebra mussels to produce large quantities of mucous pseudofaeces, `pseudodiarrhoea', that are periodically expelled hydraulically through the pedal gape by shell valve adductions rather than by the normal ciliary tracts. Analysis of the pseudofaecal ejecta showed that the proportion of Microcystis aeruginosa relative to Asterionella formosa was high in the pseudofaeces and even higher in the `pseudodiarrhoea' when a mixed diet was given to the mussels. This confirms that very toxic Microcystis aeruginosa were preferentially being rejected by comparison with the non-toxic diatom in the pseudofaeces and even more so in the `pseudodiarrhoea'. Such selective rejection was not observed with low or non-toxic strains and would therefore tend to enhance the presence of toxic Microcystis aeruginosa in mixed Microcystis aeruginosa cyanobacterial blooms, as well as transferring toxins from the water column to the benthos.

The observed acute irritant response to the toxin represents the first demonstration of an adverse sublethal effect of microcystins on invertebrate ecophysiology. Our results also suggest that it could be a specific response to microcystin-LF, a little studied toxin variant.

Key words: zebra mussel, Microcystis aeruginosa, microcystins, pseudofaeces, ecophysiology, feeding behaviour






© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2006