Sea slug feeds itself through photosynthesis

[yahsemtough 0]

A green sea slug that inhabits the saltwater marshes of Eastern Canada is being hailed as the first animal to feed itself using photosynthesis, the sunlight-derived energy source that sustains plants.

 

A green sea slug that inhabits the saltwater marshes of Eastern Canada is being hailed as the first animal to feed itself using photosynthesis, the sunlight-derived energy source that sustains plants.

 

Research led by University of Florida biologist Sidney Pierce shows the emerald marine creature Elysia chlorotica — which shares North Atlantic coastal habitats with a species of algae called Vaucheria litorea — has evolved, over countless millennia, to absorb some of the plant’s photosynthesis-enabling genes into its own DNA.

 

The solar-powered mollusk, about three centimetres long, even looks like a small leaf. Early in life, each slug ingests key chlorophyll-producing cells from the algae in its environment. But the slug’s own built-in photosynthesis functions kick in after that, sustaining it for the rest of its life cycle of about one year.

 

“Those genes are already there, in the slug, and transferred from generation to generation,” Pierce told Canwest News Service on Monday. While survival by photosynthesis is a defining trait in the plant kingdom, “that’s exactly what this slug does.”

 

Noting that gene transfer between microscopic, unicellular organisms is known to occur, Pierce points out that “the most significant part of this is that genes have been transferred between two multicellular species. This is the first discovery of that happening.”

 

Pierce outlined his research at a scientific conference earlier this month, and the detailed findings are to be published in an upcoming issue of the Canadianedited biology journal Symbiosis.

In 2007, the journal published a Pierce-led study that first indicated the possibility these sea slugs were surviving by photosynthesis.

 

A study by another group of U.S. researchers, published in 2008 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, bolstered the theory.

 

Now, said Pierce, his latest findings indicate that “many, many” algae genes have been acquired by the slug, so that the plant’s photosynthesizing structures have essentially been replicated within the animal’s own genetic code.

 

“There’s been a transfer of an entirely functional biochemical pathway,” said Pierce.

 

He said most of the slugs he and his research partners have studied were gathered along the Massachusetts shore, but added that he has also collected and studied specimens from the Halifax area.

 

The slug’s gene-transfer ability could provide important insights for medical researchers trying to create reliable forms of gene therapy to treat genetic diseases.

 

“Gene therapy doesn’t work very well right now,” said Pierce, adding that a similar transfer of genetic material “works very well in these slugs.”

[Guest cor]

So i suppose many other solar powered slugs use sunlight differently? Exchanging energy with bacteria that do the actual collecting of sunlight?

[MikeVeitch 0]

I find it interesting they state its the first animal using photosynthesis, i thought the jelly fish in the multitude of jelly fish lakes in the Indo Pacific had already been proven to use it?!?

[greedo5678 1]

Most 'solar powered' sea slugs ingest the photosynthetic algae called zooxenthallae from their food of corals and hydroids, both of which are from the phyllum cnidaria. The zooxenthellae is not ingested but passed to the cerata, branchial plumes or gills along the slugs back, and it photosynthesises and passes energy direct to the animal.

 

i assume these jellyfish (being from the phyllum Cnidaria) also use zooxenthellae to photosynthesis.

 

It appears that rather than using a host algae this slug actually changes its genetic make up which would be a first in science. But maybe the wording is a little wrong, as i had to read it a few times too!

 

Olly

 

Most 'solar powered' sea slugs ingest the photosynthetic algae called zooxanthallae from their food of corals and hydroids, both of which are from the phyllum cnidaria. The zooxanthellae is not ingested but passed to the cerata, branchial plumes or gills along the slugs back, and it photosynthesises and passes energy direct to the animal.

 

i assume these jellyfish (also being from the phyllum Cnidaria) also use zooxanthellae to photosynthesis.

 

It appears that rather than using a host algae this slug actually changes its genetic make up which would be a first in science. But maybe the wording is a little wrong, as i had to read it a few times too!

 

Olly