Ultrastructure of the gills ciliary epithelium of Limnoperna fortunei (Dunker 1857), the invasive golden mussel

Abstract

Background Limnoperna fortunei is a bivalve mollusk originally from southern Asia that invaded South America in the 1990's. Its high efficiency in pumping and filtering water and the capacity to promote strong adhesion to different substrates allowed the adaptation of this invasive species, associated with several environmental and economic damages. A deep understanding of the biology and ecology aspects of L. fortunei is necessary to outline effective strategies to manage its invasion. Mollusk gills are important structures responsible for several biological functions including breathing and feeding. In this work, we characterized the ultrastructure of L. fortunei gills and its ciliary epithelium using transmission and scanning electron microscopy. This is the first report of the L. fortunei gills ciliary epithelial cells visualized with high resolution and detailed morphology. Results The analysis showed a highly organized and large amount of ciliary structures (frontal cilia, laterofrontal cilia, and lateral cilia) on the entire length of the branchial epithelium. Mitochondria, smooth endoplasmic reticulum and glycogen granules were abundantly found in the epithelial cells of the gills, suggesting that all this energetic apparatus could be related to the morpho-functional structure of the cilia. Vesicles possibly containing mucus could also be observed in these cells, suggesting that they might be related to L. fortunei mechanism of selection and/or rejection of captured particles suspended in water. Conclusions Our data suggest the mechanism used by this mollusk for particles capture and selection, which could contribute to a better understanding of important aspects of invasion and decide on more efficient and economic strategies of population control.

Histological characterization and morphological alterations in gill and digestive gland in non-native bivalve from the Province of Buenos Aires: Spatial and seasonal evaluation

“…Thus, the use of M. gigas as a sentinel specie and evaluation biomarkers as histological aspects of this species becomes an important tool for population management in the south of Buenos Aires province, because besides being consumed and presenting possible issues for human health such as virus (Barbieri et al 2019), heavy metals (Colla et al 2018) and microplastics (Severini et al 2019) in their bodies; this species can have a negative effect on the functioning of ecosystems, competing with native species such as B. rodriguezii. Besides that, the understanding of morphology is one of the rst steps toward the establishment of strategies to control invasive species (Freitas et al 2021). In this way, works such as presented here can increase the knowledge about M. gigas, and can contribute to the management and mitigation of the impacts of this invasive species and to assess the environmental status of the study area.…”