Biochemical characteristics of alga-bacterial mats and invertebrates from shallow-water hydrothermal fields of the West Pacific Ocean

Abstract.

In this study we assessed the biochemical adaptations of biotic specimens from the hydrothermal vent fields from different geographical zones. Algabacterial and bacterial mats and specimens of bivalves (9 species) and sea urchins (2 species) from different coastal shallow-water fields of hydrothermal activity along the West Rift zones of the Pacific Ocean were sampled to compare biochemical activities to volcanogenic chemical characteristics. The algabacterial and bacterial mat cells and subcellular fractions of bivalve gills and sea urchin guts were measured for 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA), cytochromes b, (c + c ₁), (a + a ₃) and P450 (CYP), and activities of ALA synthetase and CYP-dependent aminopyrine N-demethylase (APND). The algabacterial mats from the Kuril Islands and New Zealand displayed comparable ALA and cytochrome levels and enzyme activities. Similar ALA synthesis, APND activity, and levels of cytochromes b and (c + c ₁) were observed in bacterial mats from hydrothermal fields from Kuriles, New Britain Island and New Zealand. More active ALA synthesis, APND activity and enhanced content of cytochromes b and (c + c ₁) and lower levels of CYP were found in bacterial mats than in algabacterial mats. Further, all bivalves influenced by hydrothermal discharges had elevated CYP levels and APND activity as well as a significant increase in ALA content and ALA synthesis (P < 0.05). Statistically sufficient (P < 0.05) alterations in ALA synthesis, APND activity and total CYP level were found in sea urchins under hydrothermal influence. Our findings contribute to the global assessment of hydrothermal effluents on biota and indicate that living conditions near hydrothermal vents accelerate metabolism of bivalves and sea urchins in examined hydrothermal zones in the northern and southern West Pacific Ocean.