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Is dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) produced by the symbionts or the host in an anemone–zooxanthella symbiosis?

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Abstract

Many groups of tropical cnidarians including scleractinian corals, octocorals, corallimorphs, and anemones contain the tertiary sulfonium compound dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP). It is not known if the compound is synthesized by the animals, their microalgal symbionts, or derived through their diet. We determined the source of the DMSP in several species of tropical and temperate anemones using three approaches: (1) conducting comparative measurements of DMSP in aposymbiotic and zooxanthellate anemones of three species that harbor zooxanthellae, and similar measurements in one species that can harbor both zooxanthellae and zoochlorellae, (2) manipulating the presence or absence of zooxanthellae by inoculating juvenile aposymbiotic anemones (Aiptasia pallida) with their symbiont, Symbiodinium bermudense, and (3) manipulating the numbers of S. bermudense by growing aposymbiotic and zooxanthellate A. pallida in the light and the dark. DMSP was present in zooxanthellate anemones in concentrations of 3.4–15 μmol g−1 fresh mass (FM). In aposymbiotic Aiptasia spp. and Anthopleura elegantissima that lacked large numbers of zooxanthellae, concentrations ranged from being undetectable to 0.43 μmol g−1 FM. When aposymbiotic A. pallida were inoculated with zooxanthellae, concentrations of DMSP were an average of 4.24 μmol g−1 FM after 5 weeks; DMSP was undetectable in uninoculated control animals. Aposymbiotic anemones maintained in the light or the dark for 6 weeks contained no DMSP or zooxanthellae. Zooxanthellate anemones in the light contained five times as many zooxanthellae and approximately 7.5 times as much DMSP as zooxanthellate anemones maintained in the dark. Taken together, these data show that the zooxanthellae are the sole source of DMSP in A. pallida. The trends in DMSP concentrations in other species of zooxanthellate anemones suggest that this phenomenon is not limited to A. pallida but may be more generally true for other anemones or even other cnidarians hosting species of Symbiodinium.

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Acknowledgments

We thank A. Gehman for assistance with laboratory analyses and two anonymous reviewers for their comments, which improved this manuscript. This work was funded by National Science Foundation grants to K. Van Alstyne (OCE 0526644) and the Shannon Point Marine Center (OCE 0228618).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shannon Point Marine Center, Western Washington University, 1900 Shannon Point Road, Anacortes, WA, 98221, USA

    K. L. Van Alstyne, V. J. Dominique III & G. Muller-Parker

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  1. K. L. Van Alstyne
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  2. V. J. Dominique III
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  3. G. Muller-Parker
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Correspondence to K. L. Van Alstyne.

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Communicated by Biology Editor Dr. Michael Lesser

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Van Alstyne, K.L., Dominique, V.J. & Muller-Parker, G. Is dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) produced by the symbionts or the host in an anemone–zooxanthella symbiosis?. Coral Reefs 28, 167–176 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-008-0443-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-008-0443-y

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