Alkaline phosphatase (AP) is a potential biomarker for phosphorus (P) limitation in zooplankton. However, knowledge about regulation of AP in this group is limited. In a laboratory acclimation experiment, we investigated changes in body AP concentration for Daphnia magna kept for 6 days at 10, 15, 20 and 25 °C and fed algae with 10 different molar C:P ratios (95-660). In the same experiment, we also assessed somatic growth of the animals since phosphorus acquisition is linked to growth processes. Overall, non-linear but significant relationships of AP activity with C:P ratio were observed, but there was a stronger impact of temperature on AP activity than of P limitation. Animals from the lowest temperature treatment had higher normalized AP activity, which suggests the operation of biochemical temperature compensation mechanisms. Body AP activity increased by a factor of 1.67 for every 10 °C decrease in temperature. These results demonstrate that temperature strongly influences AP expression. Therefore, using AP as a P limitation marker in zooplankton needs to consider possible confounding effects of temperature. Both temperature and diet affected somatic growth. The temperature effect on somatic growth, expressed as the Q (10) value, responded non-linearly with C:P, with Q(10) ranging between 1.9 for lowest food C:P ratio and 1.4 for the most P-deficient food. The significant interaction between those two variables highlights the importance of studying temperature-dependent changes of growth responses to food quality.
Alkaline phosphatase (AP) is a potential biomarker for class="Chemical">phosphorus (P) limitatioclass="Chemical">n iclass="Chemical">n zooplaclass="Chemical">nktoclass="Chemical">n. However, kclass="Chemical">nowledge about regulatioclass="Chemical">n of AP iclass="Chemical">n this group is limited. Iclass="Chemical">n a laboratory acclimatioclass="Chemical">n experimeclass="Chemical">nt, we iclass="Chemical">nvestigated chaclass="Chemical">nges iclass="Chemical">n body AP coclass="Chemical">nceclass="Chemical">ntratioclass="Chemical">n for class="Chemical">n class="Species">Daphnia magna kept for 6 days at 10, 15, 20 and 25 °C and fed algae with 10 different molar C:P ratios (95-660). In the same experiment, we also assessed somatic growth of the animals since phosphorus acquisition is linked to growth processes. Overall, non-linear but significant relationships of AP activity with C:P ratio were observed, but there was a stronger impact of temperature on AP activity than of P limitation. Animals from the lowest temperature treatment had higher normalized AP activity, which suggests the operation of biochemical temperature compensation mechanisms. Body AP activity increased by a factor of 1.67 for every 10 °C decrease in temperature. These results demonstrate that temperature strongly influences AP expression. Therefore, using AP as a P limitation marker in zooplankton needs to consider possible confounding effects of temperature. Both temperature and diet affected somatic growth. The temperature effect on somatic growth, expressed as the Q (10) value, responded non-linearly with C:P, with Q(10) ranging between 1.9 for lowest food C:P ratio and 1.4 for the most P-deficient food. The significant interaction between those two variables highlights the importance of studying temperature-dependent changes of growth responses to food quality.
Authors: Maaike de Backer; Sean McSweeney; Hanne B Rasmussen; Bjørn W Riise; Peter Lindley; Edward Hough Journal: J Mol Biol Date: 2002-05-17 Impact factor: 5.469