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Characteristics of the Fatty Acid Composition of a Deep-Sea Vent Gastropod, Ifremeria nautilei

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Lipids

Abstract

Neutral and polar lipids in the soft parts of a gastropod species, Ifremeria nautilei, collected from deep-sea hydrothermal vents, were examined to assess the trophic relationships in hydrothermal vents. The vent gastropod obtains many of its lipids from symbiotic chemosynthetic microorganisms. The major polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) both in the triacylglycerols and phospholipids of the gastropod consist of a limited number of n-3 and n-6 PUFA: arachidonic acid (20:4n-6), icosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3), and docosapentaenoic acid (22:5n-3), without docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3). Noticeable levels of various n-6 PUFA, such as 18:2n-6,9, 20:2n-6,9, 20:3n-6,9,12, and 20:3n-6,9,15 with significant levels of 16:1n-6 and 18:1n-6 indicate the biosynthetic characteristic of the endosymbionts. The lack of DHA in all specimens suggests a limitation of its lipid biosynthesis ability with its symbionts. This finding with regard to the lipids is unusual for a marine animal in the grazing or detrital food chain because many marine animal lipids evidently contain high levels of DHA with low levels of n-6 fatty acids. Such contradictory findings lead to some new insights into the absence of a biosynthetic pathway for DHA in I. nautilei, and provide evidence that DHA in this species is dispensable. Similar to herbivorous gastropods, the lack of DHA with significant levels of n-6 PUFA in this species also indicates its selective assimilation of specific microorganisms, such as chemosynthetic bacteria in hydrothermal vents, because significant levels of DHA were found in carnivorous mollusk lipids.

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Abbreviations

ARA:

Arachidonic acid

DMA:

Dimethylacetals

DMOX:

4,4-Dimethyloxazoline

DHA:

Docosahexaenoic acid

DPA:

Docosapentaenoic acid

EPA (IPA):

Icosapentaenoic acid

GC–MS:

Gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy

MUFA:

Monounsaturated fatty acids

NMID:

Non-methylene interrupted dienes

NMR:

Nuclear magnetic resonance

PtdCho:

Phosphatidylcholine

PtdEtn:

Phosphatidylethanolamine

PUFA:

Polyunsaturated fatty acids

TAG:

Triacylglycerols

TFA:

Total fatty acids

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Prof. Mutsumi Sugita, Shiga University, for kindly donating the authentic ceramide aminoethyl phosphonate which originated from the freshwater clam Corbicula sandai and for his valuable discussion of the bivalve lipids. The authors also thank Ms. Sumiko Terada, Ms. Mikiko Tanaka, and Mr. Akihito Takashima for their skilled technical assistance. This work was supported in part by a research project, “Development of New Technology for Treatment and Local Recycling of Biomass, D-2100” from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan.

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  1. Jun Hashimoto

    Present address: Faculty of Fisheries, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, Fisheries Research Agency, 2-12-4 Fuku-ura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, 236-8648, Japan

    Hiroaki Saito & Jun Hashimoto

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  1. Hiroaki Saito
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  2. Jun Hashimoto
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Correspondence to Hiroaki Saito.

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Saito, H., Hashimoto, J. Characteristics of the Fatty Acid Composition of a Deep-Sea Vent Gastropod, Ifremeria nautilei . Lipids 45, 537–548 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-010-3436-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-010-3436-x

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