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Current research at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, Salisbury Cove, Maine. |
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Sterol limitation of zooplankton growth: roles in nutrition and membrane biologyLisa Crockett and Patrick Hassett, PI's |
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| Many invertebrates, including arthropods, are unable to biosynthesize the cholesterol that is needed for membrane function, and instead must acquire cholesterol, or related phytosterols, from their diet. Since phytosterols in phytoplankton vary widely in both composition and concentration, copepods potentially could find their growth limited by the sterols in their diet. In fact, we have found that egg production and egg viability of copepods can be enhanced by supplementing a diatom diet with cholesterol. We have further found that copepods maintain a constant cholesterol content in their plasma membranes despite variation in their diet. Future research will investigate the effects of temperature acclimation on this response, as cholesterol is important in maintaining membrane function during thermal acclimation. | |||||||||||
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Hassett, R. P. 2004. Supplementation of a diatom diet with cholesterol can enhance copepod egg production rates. Limnology and Oceanography 49: 488-494
Crockett, E.L. and R.P. Hassett. 2005. A cholesterol-enriched diet enhances egg production and egg viability without altering cholesterol content of biological membranes in the copepod Acartia hudsonica. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 78(3): xxxx |
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