Hasegawa, R. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2024

Mouth-attaching copepod Salmincola markewitschi reduces the body condition and growth of juvenile salmonid Salvelinus leucomaenis by decreasing host feeding activity: evidence from parasite removal experiment

Ectoparasitic copepods in the genus Salmincola Wilson, 1915 are considered harmful to host salmonids, yet experimental studies on whether and how these copepods affect hosts are critically limited. We evaluated the effects of the mouth-attaching Salmincola markewitschi Shedko and Shedko, 2002 on juvenile white-spotted charr Salvelinus leucomaenis (Pallas, 1814) using a parasite removal experiment where all individuals were artificially infected, and then parasites were removed in one group (i.e., treatment), while the copepods were left in another group (i.e., control). We hypothesized that the copepods reduce host feeding, thereby reducing host body condition and growth. The alternative hypothesis is that parasites do not change host feeding, or even increase because of the compensation for the negative effect. In this case, host condition and growth would not be reduced. The control group (parasite remained) had lower food consumption, body condition, and growth compared to the treatment (parasite removed). Thus, S. markewitschi negatively affected hosts by reducing host feeding, and no behavioral compensation was observed. It remains unknown, however, whether reduced feeding was due to impaired swallowing or physiological stresses caused by infections. Further experiments on gill- and body-surface-attaching Salmincola species could provide deeper insights into how these parasites influence host health.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2019

Basicity of N5 in semiquinone enhances the rate of respiratory electron outflow in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1

Extracellular electron transport (EET) occurs in environmental iron-reducing bacteria and is mediated by an outer membrane multi-heme cytochrome complex (Cyts). It has critical implications for global mineral cycling and electrochemical microbial catalysis. The rate of EET mediated by multiple heme redox centers significantly increases in the presence of flavins and quinones. Their electron free energy does not entirely account for the fact that differential effects on EET rate enhancement vary significantly by factors [≥]100. Here, we report on whole-cell electrochemical analysis of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 using six flavin analogs and four quinones. We demonstrated that protonation of the nitrogen atom at position 5 (N5) of the isoalloxazine ring is essential for electron outflow acceleration as a bound non-covalent cofactor of Cyts. EET mediated by Cyts was accelerated at a rate dependent on pKa(N5). The EET rate largely decreased in response to the addition of deuterated water (D2O), while low concentration of D2O (4 %) had little impact on electron free energy difference of the heme and non-covalent bound cofactors, strongly suggesting that the protonation of N5 limits the rate of EET. Our findings directly link EET kinetics to proton transport reaction via N5 and provide a basis for the development of novel strategies for controlling EET-associated biological reactions.\n\nSignificance statementThe potential of various small molecules such as flavins and quinones to enhance the rate of extracellular electron transport (EET) has been exploited to develop environmental energy conversion systems. Flavins and quinones have similar molecular structures but their abilities to enhance EET vary by >100x in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1. These large differences are inconsistent with conventional models, which rely on redox potentials or diffusion constant of shuttling electron mediators. In this study, we demonstrated that the basicity of the nitrogen atom of the isoalloxazine ring (N5) enhances the rate of electron outflow when a flavin or quinone is a non-covalent cofactor of S. oneidensis MR-1 outer membrane c-type cytochromes.

biochemistry↗