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First published online February 15, 2006
Journal of Experimental Biology 209, 956-964 (2006)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2006
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02031

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An in vivo study of exocytosis of cement proteins from barnacle Balanus improvisus (D.) cyprid larva

Kristin Ödling¹, Christian Albertsson¹, James T. Russell² and Lena G. E. Mårtensson^1,*

¹ Göteborg University, Department of Zoology, Zoophysiology, Medicinaregatan 18 SE-413 90 Göteborg, Sweden
² Section on Cell Biology and Signal Transduction, NICHD, NIH, Building 49, Room 5A-78, 22 Convent Drive, MSC 4480, Bethesda, MD 20892-4480, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: lena.martensson{at}zool.gu.se)

Accepted 12 December 2005

Barnacles, like many marine invertebrates, cause serious biofouling to marine industrial constructions and hulls of vessels as they attach themselves to such surfaces. Precise biochemical understanding of the underwater adhesion to surfaces requires a detailed characterization of the biology of the control of barnacle cement secretion and the proteins that make up the cement. In this study, we have investigated cement secretion by cyprid larvae of Balanus improvisus (D.) and the morphology of their cement glands. We studied the cement protein organization within cement granules and categorized the granules into four different types according to their size and morphology, before and after stimulation of secretion. In addition, we followed the exocytotic process of cement secretion in vivo and discovered that granules undergo a dramatic swelling during secretion. Such swelling might be due to an increased osmotic activity of granule contents, following a process of hydration. We hypothesize that this hydration is essential for exocytotic secretion and conclude that cement protein exocytosis is a more complex process than previously thought and is similar to exocytotic secretion in vertebrate systems, such as histamine secretion from mast cells and exocrine secretion in the salivary gland and the pancreas.

Key words: barnacle cyprid, cement gland, cement secretion, exocytosis, dense core granules, granule swelling