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Indirect effects of ocean acidification drive feeding and growth of juvenile crown-of-thorns starfish, Acanthaster planci.

ABSTRACT: The indirect effects of changing climate in modulating trophic interactions can be as important as the direct effects of climate stressors on consumers. The success of the herbivorous juvenile stage of the crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS), Acanthaster planci, may be affected by the impacts of ocean conditions on its crustose coralline algal (CCA) food. To partition the direct effects of near future ocean acidification on juvenile COTS and indirect effects through changes in their CCA food, COTS were grown in three pHT levels (7.9, 7.8, 7.6) and fed CCA grown at similar pH levels. Consumption of CCA by COTS was bolstered when the COTS were grown in low pH and when they were fed CCA grown in low pH regardless of the pH in which the COTS were reared. COTS fed CCA grown at pH 7.6 grew fastest, but the pH/pCO2 that the COTS were reared in had no direct effect on growth. Ocean acidification conditions decreased the C : N ratio and carbonate levels in the CCA. Bolstered growth in COTS may be driven by enhanced palatability, increased nutritive state and reduced defences of their CCA food. These results indicate that near future acidification will increase the success of early juvenile COTS and boost recruitment into the coral-eating life stage.

SUBMITTER: Kamya PZ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5474082 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Indirect effects of ocean acidification drive feeding and growth of juvenile crown-of-thorns starfish, <i>Acanthaster planci</i>.

Kamya Pamela Z PZ Byrne Maria M Mos Benjamin B Hall Lauren L Dworjanyn Symon A SA

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20170601 1856

The indirect effects of changing climate in modulating trophic interactions can be as important as the direct effects of climate stressors on consumers. The success of the herbivorous juvenile stage of the crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS), <i>Acanthaster planci,</i> may be affected by the impacts of ocean conditions on its crustose coralline algal (CCA) food. To partition the direct effects of near future ocean acidification on juvenile COTS and indirect effects through changes in their CCA food, ...[more]

PMID: 28592677

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Project description:BackgroundThe crown-of-thorns starfish, Acanthaster planci (L.), has been blamed for coral mortality in a large number of coral reef systems situated in the Indo-Pacific region. Because of its high fecundity and the long duration of the pelagic larval stage, the mechanism of outbreaks may be related to its meta-population dynamics, which should be examined by larval sampling and population genetic analysis. However, A. planci larvae have undistinguished morphological features compared with other asteroid larvae, hence it has been difficult to discriminate A. planci larvae in plankton samples without species-specific markers. Also, no tools are available to reveal the dispersal pathway of A. planci larvae. Therefore the development of highly polymorphic genetic markers has the potential to overcome these difficulties. To obtain genomic information for these purposes, the complete nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial genome of A. planci and its putative sibling species, A. brevispinus were determined and their characteristics discussed.ResultsThe complete mtDNA of A. planci and A. brevispinus are 16,234 bp and 16,254 bp in size, respectively. These values fall within the length variation range reported for other metazoan mitochondrial genomes. They contain 13 proteins, 2 rRNA, and 22 tRNA genes and the putative control region in the same order as the asteroid, Asterina pectinifera. The A + T contents of A. planci and A. brevispinus on their L strands that encode the majority of protein-coding genes are 56.3% and 56.4% respectively and are lower than that of A. pectinifera (61.2%). The percent similarity of nucleotide sequences between A. planci and A. brevispinus is found to be highest in the CO2 and CO3 regions (both 90.6%) and lowest in ND2 gene (84.2%) among the 13 protein-coding genes. In the deduced putative amino acid sequences, CO1 is highly conserved (99.2%), and ATP8 apparently evolves faster any of the other protein-coding gene (85.2%).ConclusionThe gene arrangement, base composition, codon usage and tRNA structure of A. planci are similar to those of A. brevispinus. However, there are significant variations between A. planci and A. brevispinus. Complete mtDNA sequences are useful for the study of phylogeny, larval detection and population genetics.

Project description:BackgroundIn marine organisms, and in particular for benthic invertebrates including echinoderms, olfaction is a dominant sense with chemosensation being a critical signalling process. Until recently natural product chemistry was the primary investigative approach to elucidate the nature of chemical signals but advances in genomics and transcriptomics over the last decade have facilitated breakthroughs in understanding not only the chemistry but also the molecular mechanisms underpinning chemosensation in aquatic environments. Integration of these approaches has the potential to reveal the fundamental elements influencing community structure of benthic ecosystems as chemical signalling modulates intra- and inter-species interactions. Such knowledge also offers avenues for potential development of novel biological control methods for pest species such as the predatory Crown-of-Thorns starfish (COTS), Acanthaster planci which are the primary biological cause of coral cover loss in the Indo-Pacific.ResultsIn this study, we have analysed the COTS sensory organs through histological and electron microscopy. We then investigated key elements of the COTS molecular olfactory toolkit, the putative olfactory rhodopsin-like G protein-protein receptors (GPCRs) within its genome and olfactory organ transcriptomes. Many of the identified Acanthaster planci olfactory receptors (ApORs) genes were found to cluster within the COTS genome, indicating rapid evolution and replication from an ancestral olfactory GPCR sequence. Tube feet and terminal sensory tentacles contain the highest proportion of ApORs. In situ hybridisation confirmed the presence of four ApORs, ApOR15, 18, 25 and 43 within COTS sensory organs, however expression of these genes was not specific to the adhesive epidermis, but also within the nerve plexus of tube feet stems and within the myomesothelium. G alpha subunit proteins were also identified in the sensory organs, and we report the spatial localisation of Gαi within the tube foot and sensory tentacle.ConclusionsWe have identified putative COTS olfactory receptors that localise to sensory organs. These results provide a basis for future studies that may enable the development of a biological control not only for COTS, but also other native pest or invasive starfish.

Dataset Information

Indirect effects of ocean acidification drive feeding and growth of juvenile crown-of-thorns starfish, Acanthaster planci.

Publications

Indirect effects of ocean acidification drive feeding and growth of juvenile crown-of-thorns starfish, <i>Acanthaster planci</i>.

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