The role of cell replacement in benthic-pelagic coupling by suspension feeders.

ABSTRACT: Benthic-pelagic coupling through suspension feeders and their detrital pathways is integral to carbon transport in oceans. In food-poor ecosystems however, a novel mechanism of carbon recycling has been proposed that involves direct uptake of dissolved carbon by suspension feeders followed by shedding of cells as particulate carbon. We studied cell replacement rates in a range of cold-water sponge species to determine how universal this mechanism might be. We show that cell replacement rates of feeding epithelia in explants vary from 30 hours up to 7 days, and change during different seasons and life-history stages. We also found that feeding epithelia are not replaced through direct replication but instead arise from a population of stem cells that differentiate and integrate into epithel

SUBMITTER: Kahn AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5180130 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature