Meeting Abstract
Molecular recognition of food particle epitopes has been suspected to play an important role in particle selection in suspension feeding bivalves such as the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis. Among molecules involved in this mechanism, lectins are a group of sugar-binding proteins that are widely implicated in biological recognition. Recently, we identified a mucosal lectin (MeML) in pallial organs of M. edulis and suggested its involvement in the capture and sorting of food particles. In the current study, we used a combination of physiological experiments (food selection) and molecular biology tools to link mussel sorting efficiencies to transcriptional changes in MeML as related to the quantity and quality of mussel diet and season (mussel reproductive cycle). Results showed that sorting efficiencies and MeML expression in M. edulis significantly increase when mussels were either fed poor quality food or starved. In addition, results suggested that particle capture and degree of selection increased during the spawning period, although the quality of food delivered to mussels during acclimation before the experiments seemed to have a stronger impact on particle sorting efficiency. Overall, the impact of both intrinsic (physiological status) and extrinsic (food quality) factors were shown to affect the expression of MeML in mussel feeding organs, and the food sorting abilities.
