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A Model for Signal Transduction during Gamete Release in the Fucoid Alga Pelvetia compressa1

Gareth Anthony Pearson2, * and Susan Howard Brawley3

Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469-5722

Fucoid algae release gametes into seawater following an inductive light period (potentiation), and gamete expulsion from potentiated receptacles of Pelvetia compressa began about 2 min after a light-to-dark transition. Agitation of the medium reversed potentiation, with an exponential time course completed in about 3 h. Light regulated two signaling pathways during potentiation and gamete expulsion: a photosynthetic pathway and a photosynthesis-independent pathway in which red light was active but blue light was not. Uptake of K+ appears to have an important role in potentiation, because a 50% inhibition of potentiation occurred in the presence of the tetraethylammonium ion, a K+-channel blocker. A central role of anion channels in the maintenance of potentiation is suggested by the premature release of gametes in the light when receptacles were incubated with inhibitors of slow-type anion channels. An inhibitor of tyrosine kinases, tyrphostin A63, also inhibited potentiation. A model for gamete release from P. compressa is presented that proposes that illumination results in the accumulation of ions (e.g. K+) throughout the cells of the receptacle during potentiation, which then move into the extracellular matrix during gamete expulsion to generate osmomechanical force, resulting in gamete release.

1   This work was supported by National Science Foundation award OCE 92 16981 to S.H.B.
2   Present address: Unidade de Ciências e Technologias dos Recursos Aquaticos, Campus de Gambelas, Universidade do Algarve, 8000 Faro, Portugal.
3   Present address: School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469-5722.
*   Corresponding author; e-mail gpearson{at}ualg.pt; fax 351-89-818353.

Plant Physiol. (1998) 118: 305-313
Copyright Clearance Center:   0032-0889/98/118//09
© 1998 American Society of Plant Physiologists




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 Integr. Comp. Biol.Home page
G. A. Pearson and E. A. Serrao
Revisiting synchronous gamete release by fucoid algae in the intertidal zone: fertilization success and beyond?
Integr. Comp. Biol., October 1, 2006; 46(5): 587 - 597.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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