Estimating the Productivity of the Black Sea Bivalve Chamelea gallinafrom the Size and Biomass of Its Populations

Characteristics of annual production based on various mass data (whole animal mass; shell mass; and wet, dry, and ash-free dry soft tissue mass), the P/B coefficient, and specific production were estimated for the bivalve mollusk Chamelea gallinasampled from 21 localities in the northwestern and eastern Black Sea. The annual production correlated with population biomass (r= 0.994) and mean individual mass (r= –0.737), while the P/Bcoefficient depended mainly on mean individual mass (r= –0.719). Estimates of the P/Bcoefficient in Ch. gallinafrom the Black Sea were smaller than those of other marine invertebrates found worldwide with the same energy equivalent. Multiple linear regression equations were calculated for empirical relationships of various characteristics of annual production to the population biomass and mean individual biomass of Ch. gallina.     

Trace element levels in mollusks from clean and polluted coastal marine sites in the Mediterranean, Red and North Seas

The trace element contamination levels in mollusks were evaluated for different marine coastal sites in the Mediterranean (Israeli coast), Red (Israeli coast) and North (German coast) Seas. Three bivalve species (Mactra corallina, Donax sp, and Mytilus edulis) and two gastropod species (Patella sp.and Cellana rota) were sampled at polluted and relatively clean sites, and their soft tissue analyzed for Hg, Cd, Zn, Cu, Mn and Fe concentrations. Representative samples were screened for organic contaminants [(DDE), polychlorinated biphenyls PCBs and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)] which exhibited very low concentrations at all sites. In the Red Sea, the gastropod C. rota showed low levels of Hg (below detection limit) and similar Cd concentrations at all the examined sites, while other trace elements (Cu, Zn, Mn, Fe) were slightly enriched at the northern beach stations. Along the Mediterranean coast of Israel, Hg and Zn were enriched in two bivalves (M. corallina and Donax sp.) from Haifa Bay, both species undergoing a long-term decrease in Hg based on previous studies. Significant Cd and Zn enrichment was detected in Patella sp. from the Kishon River estuary at the southern part of Haifa Bay. In general, Patella sp. and Donax sp. specimens from Haifa Bay exhibited higher levels of Cd compared to other sites along the Israeli Mediterranean coast, attributed to the enrichment of Cd in suspended particulate matter. Along the German coast (North Sea) M. edulis exhibited higher concentrations of Hg and Cd at the Elbe and Eider estuaries, but with levels below those found in polluted sites elsewhere. Received: 25 February 1999 / Received in revised form: 22 April 1999 / Accepted: 30 April 1999     

Fertilization in Sepia officinalis: the first mollusk sperm-attracting peptide

Egg mass extract was used to characterize regulatory peptides, involved in the successive steps of egg-laying of the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis. Among these peptides, a C-terminally amidated hexapeptide revealed a sperm-attracting activity. MALDI-TOF MS (matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry) and Edman degradation led to a peptide of m/z 596.6 and the following primary sequence: Pro-Ile-Asp-Pro-Gly-Val-CO(NH2). From concentrations as low as 10(-17)M, the PIDPGVamide was able to attract freshly dissected spermatozoa. Nano-ESI-Q-TOF MS (nano-electrospray ionization-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry) analysis established the quantitative occurrence of this peptide in different egg structures. The PIDPGVamide appears to be synthesized in oocytes during vitellogenesis and released by the embedded oocytes in the external media during egg-laying to facilitate fertilization by increasing chances of gamete collision. This novel peptide called SepSAP for Sepia sperm attracting peptide is the first sperm-attracting peptide, identified in mollusks or even in protostomians.     

Novel features of metazoan mtDNA revealed from sequence analysis of three mitochondrial DNA segments of the land snail Albinaria turrita (Gastropoda: Clausiliidae)

The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) size of the terrestrial gastropod Albinaria turrita was determined by restriction enzyme mapping and found to be approximately 14.5 kb. Its partial gene content and organization were examined by sequencing three cloned segments representing about one-fourth of the mtDNA molecule. Complete sequences of cytochrome c oxidase subunit II (COII), and ATPase subunit 8 (ATPase8), as well as partial sequences of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), NADH dehydrogenase subunit 6 (ND6), and the large ribosomal RNA (IrRNA) genes were determined. Nine putative tRNA genes were also identified by their ability to conform to typical mitochondrial tRNA secondary structures. An 82-nt sequence resembles a noncoding region of the bivalve Mytilus edulis, even though it might contain a tenth tRNA gene with an unusual 5-nt overlap with another tRNA gene. The genetic code of Albinaria turrita appears to be the same as that of Drosophila and Mytilus edulis. The structures of COI and COII are conservative, but those of ATPase8 and ND6 are diversified. The sequenced portion of thelrRNA gene (1,079 nt) is characterized by conspicuous deletions in the 5 and 3 ends; this gene represents the smallest coelomate IrRNA gene so far known. Sequence comparisons of the identified genes indicate that there is greater difference between Albinaria and Mytilus than between Albinaria and Drosophila. An evolutionary analysis, based on COII sequences, suggests a possible nonmonophyletic origin of molluskan mtDNA. This is supported also by the absence of the ATPase8 gene in the mtDNA of Mytilus and nematodes, while this gene is present in the mtDNA of Albinaria and Cepaea nemoralis and in all other known coelomate metazoan mtDNAs.     

环境污染对几类水生无脊椎动物内分泌功能扰乱的研究现状

近年来，在环境毒理学这门边缘学科中又诞生了一个新的领域，即环境污染对内分泌功能的扰乱。研究发现，许多人工合成的杀虫剂和工业化合物能够扰乱脊椎动物的内分泌功能，这些化合物也存在于水环境中。近年来，这些环境有机污染物是否对水生无脊椎动物的内分泌功能同样具有扰乱作用成了环境内分泌学这个新领域的热点之一。由于近年来的研究侧重于腔肠动物、轮虫、软体动物、甲壳动物及棘皮动物，因此，本文主要介绍有关环境污染物对这几类水生无脊椎动物内分泌功能扰乱的研究进展。另外，对环境污染对水生无脊椎动物内分泌扰乱这个研究热点的现状以及今后的发展方向进行了评述。在从事环境污染对无脊椎动物内分泌功能影响的研究时，研究者必须意识到无脊椎动物和脊椎动物在内分泌机制上的差异，不可随意地在这两大类动物类群之间互相引伸研究结果。     

Adaptations to hypoxia in hydrothermal-vent and cold-seep invertebrates

The deep sea harbors very unusual environments, such as hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, that illustrate an apparent paradox: the environmental conditions are very challenging and yet they display a high biomass when compared to the surrounding environment at similar depth. Hypoxia is one of the challenges that these species face to live there. Here, we review specific adaptations of their respiratory system that the species have developed to cope with hypoxia, at the morphological, physiological, and biochemical levels. Most studies to date deal with annelids and crustaceans, and trends can be drawn: development of ventilation and branchial surfaces to help with oxygen extraction, and an increase in finely tuned oxygen binding proteins to help with oxygen storage and transport. Beside these respiratory adaptations most animals have developed enhanced anaerobic capacities and specific ways to deal with sulfide.     

Different sensitivity of Ca(2+)-ATPase and cholinesterase to pure and commercial pesticides in nervous ganglia of Phyllocaulis soleiformis (Mollusca)

We measured the effects in vitro of pure and commercial pesticides on Ca(2+)-activated ATPase and cholinesterase (ChE) activities in the nervous system of the slug Phyllocaulis soleiformis. The pesticides used in this study included carbamate and organophosphates, which acts as reversible and irreversible anticholinesterases, respectively. Both enzymes were insensitive to pure carbofuran (1 mM), glyphosate (1 mM) and malathion (120 microM). However, the carbamate carbofuran, in the commercial formulation Furandan 350S, inhibited ATPase and ChE activities. The organophosphate glyphosate used in the commercial preparation of Gliz 480CS inhibited ATPase activity and increased cholinesterase activity. These effects are likely due to the action of adjuvant substances of the chemical formulation. The commercial formulation (Malatol 500CE) did not alter enzymes activities. Our results suggest that cholinesterase present in the slug nervous tissue has a different behavior to those identified in vertebrate nervous tissue, since it was insensitive to pure compounds, known as anticholinesterases in vertebrates. Considering the insensitivity of the Ca(2+)-activated ATPase, we suggested that the purinergic neurotransmission and other roles of ATP might not be affected by the pure pesticides tested.     

Single exon structures of the oxytocin/vasopressin superfamily peptides of octopus

Two genes of the oxytocin/vasopressin superfamily in the cephalopod Octopus vulgaris, cephalotocin (CT) and octopressin (OP), lack introns and consist of a single exon in their protein-coding regions, which is unlike the 2 intron-3 exon structures in most vertebrates and Lys-conopressin in a pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis. Octopus may have lost introns during the evolutionary process in mollusks. mRNA that had deleted 202 bp from preproCT cDNA (CT-del) was also expressed in the brain. The deletion occurred in the central part of neurophysin. Immunohistochemical studies suggest that a translational product of CT-del mRNA may not be present in a stable form due to the loss of neurophysin. Genomic Southern blot analysis revealed that a single copy of each of OP-, CT-, and CT-del-genes was present in the genome.     

Invertebrate Species with Nonpelagic Larvae Have Elevated Levels of Nonsynonymous Substitutions and Reduced Nucleotide Diversities

Under a nearly neutral model in which most amino acid substitutions are slightly deleterious, variation in demography, population structure, and other ecological factors among closely related species can potentially modify the effective population size or the selective regime, leading to differences in the rate of nonsynonymous substitution. Ratios of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitutions (d_N/d_S) between species were analyzed in a sea star genus (Patiriella) and a molluscan genus (Littorina), each with diverse modes of reproduction, including multiple lineages with pelagic and nonpelagic larvae. In both genera, lineages with nonpelagic larvae had significantly higher d_N/d_S ratios than lineages with pelagic larvae. The hypothesis that the elevated d_N/d_S ratios in species with nonpelagic larvae was due to reduced effective population size was tested by comparing nucleotide diversities in three genera of gastropod mollusks (Littorina, Crepidula, and Hydrobia), each with several modes of reproduction. Overall, there was a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in nucleotide diversity in species with nonpelagic larvae compared to species with pelagic larvae.     

Heterogeneity and tissue specificity of tropomyosin isoforms from four species of bivalves

Heterogeneity and tissue specificity of tropomyosin isoforms obtained from four species of bivalves (Scapharca broughtonii (ark shell), Mytilus galloprovincialis (mussel), Atrina pectinata (surf clam) and Crassostrea gigas (Pacific oyster)), were examined. Tropomyosins were extracted from translucent and opaque portions of posterior adductor muscle, respectively, and cardiac muscle of each bivalve. There were two tropomyosin isoforms in the ark shell, the surf clam and the Pacific oyster. They were designated as TMa and TMb. In the ark shell, TMa was the common isoform and TMb was specific for the opaque portion of the adductor muscle. In the surf clam, TMb was the common isoform present in all tissues. TMa was found only in the translucent portion of muscle. In the Pacific oyster, TMb was the major component in both portions of adductor muscle and TMa was the major component in cardiac muscle, although both tropomyosins were included in all tissues. The mussel had only one tropomyosin.