Tab. 1: Summary of available data about antifreeze peptides of polar fish

In the blood of Antarctic notothenioid and Arctic gadiform fishes, freezing is inhibited by antifreeze glycopeptide macromolecules (AFGP). These antifreeze molecules are built up of repeating tripeptide units (Ala-Ala-Thr)n, to which the disaccharide fl-D-galactosyl-(1->3)a-N-acetyl-D-galactosamine is linked through the hydroxyl oxygen of the threonyl residue. Species of Liparididae, Zoarcidae, Cottidae and Pleuronectidae synthezise only unglycosylated antifreeze peptides (AFP). It could be demonstrated for the Antarctic silverfish Pleuragramma antarcticum that the synthesis of AFGP is not constitutive but rather regulated by water temperature. Moreover a novel glycopeptid was isolated and characterised from P. antarcticum, the Pleuragramma-antifreeze glycopeptid (PAGP). The level of antifreeze concentration was dependent on the ambient water temperature, the depth of distribution, the life cycle and the evolution of the species. Surprisingly, detectable AFGPs in perciform fish of the Antarctic and gadiform fish of the Arctic and Antarctic could illustrate, that before the continental drift occurred a precursor glycopeptid existed, and that the existence of freezing resistance in some species reflects the past glaciation. The wide distribution and high heterogeneity of AFPs point to the assumption that these peptides are results of cold shock stress responses.

CO2 and vitamin B12 interactions determine bioactive trace metal requirements of a subarctic Pacific diatom

Phytoplankton growth can be limited by numerous inorganic nutrients and organic growth factors. Using the subarctic diatom Attheya sp. in culture studies, we examined how the availability of vitamin B(12) and carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO(2)) influences growth rate, primary productivity, cellular iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd) quotas, and the net use efficiencies (NUEs) of these bioactive trace metals (mol C fixed per mol cellular trace metal per day). Under B(12)-replete conditions, cells grown at high pCO(2) had lower Fe, Zn and Cd quotas, and used those trace metals more efficiently in comparison with cells grown at low pCO(2). At high pCO(2), B(12)-limited cells had ~50% lower specific growth and carbon fixation rates, and used Fe ~15-fold less efficiently, and Zn and Cd ~3-fold less efficiently, in comparison with B(12)-replete cells. The observed higher Fe, Zn and Cd NUE under high pCO(2)/B(12)-replete conditions are consistent with predicted downregulation of carbon-concentrating mechanisms. Co quotas of B(12)-replete cells were 5- to 14-fold higher in comparison with B(12)-limited cells, suggesting that >80% of cellular Co of B(12)-limited cells was likely from B(12). Our results demonstrate that CO(2) and vitamin B(12) interactively influence growth, carbon fixation, trace metal requirements and trace metal NUE of this diatom. This suggests the need to consider complex feedback interactions between multiple environmental factors for this biogeochemically critical group of phytoplankton in the last glacial maximum as well as the current and future changing ocean.