Putative involvement of adrenergic receptors in regulation of mussel (Perna canaliculus) larval settlement

Abstract

Settlement responses were investigated for mussel (Perna canaliculus) larvae after exposure to catecholamines and their precursor metabolites. Settlement and mortality assays were conducted in Petri plates with chemical treatments (L-phenylalanine, L-tyrosine, L-DOPA, dopamine hydrochloride and epinephrine at various concentrations) and controls. 15The proteinogenic amino acids L-phenylalanine and L-tyrosine both were effective inducers (~65%) of larval settlement at 10 −5 mol L −1 compared with controls (4%). Exposure of larvae to L-DOPA, dopamine and epinephrine resulted in maximum settlement induction (50, 60 and 51%, respectively) at 10 −5 mol L −1 . Larval mortalities were low (comparable to controls) across all concentrations of L-phenylalanine and L-tyrosine treatments whereas high mortalities (>60%) were observed for L-DOPA, dopamine and epinephrine at concentrations ≥ 10 −4 mol L −1. Our results indicate that P. canaliculus 20 larval settlement is under endogenous regulation by a catecholaminergic mechanism. Furthermore, the inductive effects of all tested metabolites in the epinephrine biosynthesis pathway point to a putative involvement of adrenergic-type receptors in regulation of larval settlement in this mussel species.

Effect of neuroactive compounds on larval metamorphosis of New Zealand geoduck (Panopea zelandica )

“…; Young, Alfaro, Sánchez‐Lazo, et al . ). At the same time, clear differences in induction abilities have been observed among species, which leads to the conclusion that neuroactive inducers are highly species‐specific, and these variations indicate the involvement of different mechanisms in the signal transduction responsible for triggering metamorphosis (Young et al .…”

“…Several physical, biological and chemical cues have been identified as inducers of larval settlement and/or metamorphosis across molluscan species (Hadfield & Paul ; Alfaro, Young, & Ganesan ). Such cues include substrate morphology (Hadfield & Paul ; Alfaro & Jeffs ), vibration (Rittschof, Forward, Cannon, Welch, McClary, Holm, Clare, Conova, McKelvey, Bryan, & van Dover ), water motion (Alfaro ), sound (Lillis, Eggleston, & Bohnenstiehl ), microbial biofilms (Ganesan, Alfaro, Brooks, & Higgins ; Tung & Alfaro ; Ganesan, Alfaro, Higgins, & Brooks ; Ganesan, Alfaro, Higgins, Duxbury, & Brooks ), the presence/absence of conspecifics and/or prey species (Hadfield & Paul ), and a range of natural or artificial chemicals (Steinberg, De Nys, & Kjelleberg ; Alfaro, Copp, Appleton, Kelly, & Jeffs ; Young, Alfaro, & Robertson ; Alfaro, Young, & Bowden ; Young, Alfaro, Sánchez‐Lazo, & Robertson ). Specifically, chemical cues have been investigated for a range of bivalve species, including oysters (Coon, Bonar, & Weiner ), mussels (Young, Alfaro, Sánchez‐Lazo, et al .…”

“…Specifically, chemical cues have been investigated for a range of bivalve species, including oysters (Coon, Bonar, & Weiner ), mussels (Young, Alfaro, Sánchez‐Lazo, et al . ), scallops (Mesías‐Gansbiller, Bendimerad, Román, Pazos, Sánchez, & Pérez‐Parallé ) and clams (García‐Lavandeira, Silva, Abad, Pazos, Sánchez, & Luz Pérez‐Parallé ). These chemical inducers enhanced significantly the proportion of larvae which metamorphosed into spat (i.e.…”

Metabolic profiling of mussel larvae: effect of handling and culture conditions

“…The vital stain Neutral Red was used to confirm that only live organisms were included in the larval samples. Following the protocol by Young et al ( 2015a ), ten replicate subsamples (each containing approximately 20 organisms) from every tank were assessed.…”

“…While many advances have been made over the past decade, such as optimized feeding regimes (Ragg et al 2010 ), use of probiotics (Kesarcodi-Watson et al 2012a , b ), and identification of larval settlement inducers (Young et al 2011(Young et al , 2015a, high mortality events during larval culture and variable spat production yields are commonly experienced for some species. Undoubtedly, there is still much to learn about the fundamental biology and requirements of marine bivalves during early development, and considerable scope exists to further optimize and fine-tune the larval rearing conditions.…”