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A comprehensive evaluation of the potential chemical defenses of antarctic ascidians against sympatric fouling microorganisms

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Abstract

The present study analyzed the bioactivity of whole body extracts from six solitary and eight colonial ascidian taxa against 20 sympatric bacterial isolates and one sympatric diatom species from the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Ascidians had crude lipophilic and hydrophilic extracts assayed against 20 bacterial strains. The lipophilic extract of one ascidian caused growth inhibition in all bacterial isolates at 3× tissue-level concentrations. The lipophilic and hydrophilic extracts were fractionated into seawater-soluble and insoluble fractions and assayed at three concentrations against a sympatric diatom species. Significant diatom mortality was detected at 3× and 1× concentrations in all but one ascidian taxon. Lipophilic fractions caused higher diatom mortality than hydrophilic extracts. The specificity of secondary metabolites against diatom fouling and the lack of activity against bacteria suggest high selective pressure for chemical defenses against diatom fouling or the potential that bacterial pathogens are controlled by the ascidian immune system.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Margaret Amsler, Craig Aumack, Jill Zamzow, and Philip Bucolo for their assistance with field collections. We are very grateful to Linda Cole at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, for her assistance with ascidian taxonomy. We wish to acknowledge the generous logistical support provided by those individuals employed by Raytheon Polar Services Company. This research was facilitated by NSF awards to CDA and JBM (OPP-0442769) and to BJB (OPP-0442857). JBM acknowledges the support of an Endowed Research Professorship in Polar and Marine Biology through the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

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  1. Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1300 University Blvd., Campbell Hall 368, Birmingham, AL, 35294-1170, USA

    James B. McClintock

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA

    Bill J. Baker

  3. Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1300 University Blvd., Campbell Hall 252, Birmingham, AL, 35294-1170, USA

    Gil Koplovitz

  4. Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1300 University Blvd., Campbell Hall 367, Birmingham, AL, 35294-1170, USA

    Charles D. Amsler

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  1. Gil Koplovitz
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Correspondence to James B. McClintock.

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Communicated by F. Bulleri.

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Koplovitz, G., McClintock, J.B., Amsler, C.D. et al. A comprehensive evaluation of the potential chemical defenses of antarctic ascidians against sympatric fouling microorganisms. Mar Biol 158, 2661–2671 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-011-1764-x

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