Application of liposome and stable isotope tracer techniques to study polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis in marine zooplankton

Bell, Michael V.; Dick, James R.; Anderson, Thomas R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7408-1566; Pond, David W.. 2007 Application of liposome and stable isotope tracer techniques to study polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis in marine zooplankton. Journal of Plankton Research, 29 (5). 417-422. 10.1093/plankt/fbm025

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract/Summary

We investigated the ability of four species of marine zooplankton to synthesize polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) during pulse-chase tracer experiments. Liposomes containing a deuterium labelled precursor fatty acid, D5-18:3n-3, were fed to female Calanus finmarchicus, Calanoides acutus, Drepanopus forcipatus and calyptopus larvae of Euphausia superba during ship-board experiments. Although all species of zooplankton readily ingested the liposomes and incorporated the D5-18:3n-3 tracer into their somatic lipid pool, only negligible products of elongation and desaturation; D5-18:4n-3, D5-20:5n-3 and D5-22:6n-3 were detected after 96 h incubations. We conclude that the four species of marine zooplankton examined here are unable to synthesize PUFA at ecologically significant rates and certainly not in amounts sufficient to support growth and reproductive processes.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1093/plankt/fbm025
Programmes:	BAS Programmes > Global Science in the Antarctic Context (2005-2009) > DISCOVERY 2010 - Integrating Southern Ocean Ecosystems into the Earth System NOC Programmes > Marine Systems Modelling
ISSN:	0142-7873
NORA Subject Terms:	Biology and Microbiology Zoology
Date made live:	06 Feb 2009 17:11 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/5989

Actions (login required)

View Item

Document Downloads

More statistics for this item...