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Lipophilic Defenses From Alcyonium Soft Corals of Antarctica

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Abstract

Alcyonacean soft corals lack physical or skeletal defenses and their nematocyst system is weak, leading to the conclusion that soft corals mainly rely on chemistry for protection from predators and microbes. Defensive chemicals of primary and secondary metabolic origin are exuded in the mucus surface layer, explaining the general lack of heavy fouling and predation in corals. In Antarctic ecosystems, where generalist predation is intense and mainly driven by invertebrate consumers, the genus Alcyonium is represented by eight species. Our goal was to investigate the understudied chemical ecology of Antarctic Alcyonium soft corals. We obtained six samples belonging to five species: A. antarcticum, A. grandis, A. haddoni, A. paucilobulatum, and A. roseum, and assessed the lipid-soluble fractions for the presence of defensive agents in these specimens. Ethyl ether extracts were tested in feeding bioassays with the sea star Odontaster validus and the amphipod Cheirimedon femoratus as putative sympatric predators. Repellent activities were observed towards both consumers in all but one of the samples assessed. Moreover, three of the extracts caused inhibition to a sympatric marine bacterium. The ether extracts afforded characteristic illudalane sesquiterpenoids in two of the samples, as well as particular wax esters subfractions in all the colonies analyzed. Both kinds of metabolites displayed significant deterrent activities demonstrating their likely defensive role. These results suggest that lipophilic chemicals are a first line protection strategy in Antarctic Alcyonium soft corals against predation and bacterial fouling.

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Acknowledgements

We thank L. Ciavatta, F. Castelluccio, M. Rodríguez-Arias, M. Paone, S. Taboada, J. Cristobo, B. Figuerola, C. Angulo, and J. Moles for support and help in the lab. Thanks are due to S. Catazine for the artwork. Also we are grateful to W. Arntz and the crew of R/V Polarstern, UTM (CSIC), “Las Palmas” and BAE “Gabriel de Castilla” crews for logistic support. Funding was provided by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain (CGL/2004-03356, ANT, CGL2007-65453/ANT and CGL2010-17415/ANT).

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  1. Departament de Biologia Animal (Invertebrats), Facultat de Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain

    Laura Núñez-Pons, Jennifer Vázquez & Conxita Avila

  2. Istituto di Chimica Biomolecolare, CNR, Via Campi Flegrei 34, I 80078, Pozzuoli, Napoli, Italia

    Marianna Carbone & Margherita Gavagnin

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  1. Laura Núñez-Pons
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Núñez-Pons, L., Carbone, M., Vázquez, J. et al. Lipophilic Defenses From Alcyonium Soft Corals of Antarctica. J Chem Ecol 39, 675–685 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-013-0276-1

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