Biochemical prey recognition by planktonic protozoa

@article{citeulike:884876, abstract = {Summary Planktonic flagellates and ciliates are the major consumers of phytoplankton and bacterioplankton in aquatic environments, playing a pivotal role in carbon cycling and nutrient regeneration. Despite certain unicellular predators using chemosensory responses to locate and select their prey, the biochemical mechanisms behind prey reception and selection have not been elucidated. Here we identify a Ca2+-dependent, mannose-binding lectin on the marine dinoflagellate Oxyrrhis marina, which is used as a feeding receptor for recognizing prey. Blocking the receptor using 20 muM mannose-BSA inhibited ingestion of phytoplankton prey, Isochrysis galbana, by 60\%. In prey selection studies, O. marina ingested twice as many 6 mum diameter beads coated with mannose-BSA as those coated with galNac-BSA. When pre-incubated with mannose-BSA, O. marina was no longer able to discriminate between different sugar-coated beads. Thus, these findings reveal molecular mechanisms of protozoan prey recognition. Our results also indicate the functional similarity between cellular recognition used by planktonic protozoa to discriminate between different prey items, and those used by metazoan phagocytic blood cells to recognize invading microorganisms.}, author = {Wootton, Emma C. and Zubkov, Mikhail V. and Jones and Jones, Ruth H. and Martel, Claire M. and Thornton, Catherine A. and Roberts, Emily C. }, citeulike-article-id = {884876}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2006.01130.x}, journal = {Environmental Microbiology}, keywords = {grazing}, number = {0}, pages = {???}, posted-at = {2006-10-05 15:00:00}, priority = {4}, title = {Biochemical prey recognition by planktonic protozoa}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2006.01130.x}, volume = {0}, year = {0000} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:884876 L3 - citeulike-article-id:884876 N2 - Summary Planktonic flagellates and ciliates are the major consumers of phytoplankton and bacterioplankton in aquatic environments, playing a pivotal role in carbon cycling and nutrient regeneration. Despite certain unicellular predators using chemosensory responses to locate and select their prey, the biochemical mechanisms behind prey reception and selection have not been elucidated. Here we identify a Ca2+-dependent, mannose-binding lectin on the marine dinoflagellate Oxyrrhis marina, which is used as a feeding receptor for recognizing prey. Blocking the receptor using 20 muM mannose-BSA inhibited ingestion of phytoplankton prey, Isochrysis galbana, by 60%. In prey selection studies, O. marina ingested twice as many 6 mum diameter beads coated with mannose-BSA as those coated with galNac-BSA. When pre-incubated with mannose-BSA, O. marina was no longer able to discriminate between different sugar-coated beads. Thus, these findings reveal molecular mechanisms of protozoan prey recognition. Our results also indicate the functional similarity between cellular recognition used by planktonic protozoa to discriminate between different prey items, and those used by metazoan phagocytic blood cells to recognize invading microorganisms. IS - 0 JF - Environmental Microbiology EP - ??? TI - Biochemical prey recognition by planktonic protozoa VL - 0 SP - ??? KW - grazing AU - Wootton, Emma AU - Zubkov, Mikhail AU - Jones AU - Jones, Ruth AU - Martel, Claire AU - Thornton, Catherine AU - Roberts, Emily PY - 2000/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2006.01130.x ER -