Fatty acid metabolism and modifications in Chironomus riparius

knowledge of fatty acid modifications in consumers is essential for studies using fatty acids as biomarkers. We investigated fatty acid metabolism and possible modification pathways in benthic invertebrate larvae (Diptera). We conducted diet manipulation experiments using natural food sources (two c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences Vol. 375; no. 1804; p. 20190643
Main Authors:	Strandberg, Ursula, Vesterinen, Jussi, Ilo, Timo, Akkanen, Jarkko, Melanen, Miina, Kankaala, Paula
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England The Royal Society 03-08-2020
Subjects:	Animals Chironomidae - growth & development Chironomidae - metabolism Chlorophyta - chemistry Cyanobacteria - chemistry Diatoms - chemistry Diet Fatty Acids - metabolism Larva - growth & development Larva - metabolism desaturation elongation polyunsaturated fatty acids retroconversion
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Summary:	knowledge of fatty acid modifications in consumers is essential for studies using fatty acids as biomarkers. We investigated fatty acid metabolism and possible modification pathways in benthic invertebrate larvae (Diptera). We conducted diet manipulation experiments using natural food sources (two chlorophyte algae, a diatom and a non-toxic cyanobacterium). We also did a diet-switch experiment on two different resources, fish food flakes TetraMin and cyanobacterium , to study fatty acid turnover in . Results of the diet manipulation experiments indicate that larvae have a strong tendency to biosynthesize 20:5n-3 and 20:4n-6 from precursor fatty acids, and that the dietary availability of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) does not control larval growth. Fatty acid modifications explain why low dietary availability of PUFA did not significantly limit growth. This has ecologically relevant implications on the role of benthic chironomids in conveying energy to upper trophic level consumers. A diet-switch experiment showed that the turnover rate of fatty acids in is relatively fast--a few days. The compositional differences of algal diets were large enough to separate larvae into distinct groups even if significant modification of PUFA was observed. In summary, fatty acids are excellent dietary biomarkers for , if modifications of PUFA are considered, and will provide high-resolution data on resource use. This article is part of the theme issue 'The next horizons for lipids as 'trophic biomarkers': evidence and significance of consumer modification of dietary fatty acids'.
Bibliography:	Electronic supplementary material is available online at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5012627. One contribution of 16 to a theme issue ‘The next horizons for lipids as ‘trophic biomarkers’: evidence and significance of consumer modification of dietary fatty acids’.
ISSN:	0962-8436 1471-2970
DOI:	10.1098/rstb.2019.0643