Cover Picture: LOX-Induced Lipid Peroxidation Mechanism Responsible for the Detrimental Effect of Marine Diatoms on Zooplankton Grazers (ChemBioChem 15/2007)

✍ Scribed by Angelo Fontana; Giuliana d'Ippolito; Adele Cutignano; Giovanna Romano; Nadia Lamari; Alexia Massa Gallucci; Guido Cimino; Antonio Miralto; Adrianna Ianora

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 60 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1439-4227
• DOI: 10.1002/cbic.200790051

✦ Synopsis

The cover picture shows the TUNEL-stained phantom of a malformed and apoptotic newborn nauplius of the copepod Temora stylifera generated from mothers fed on marine diatoms. Teratogenesis and apoptosis are responsible for a drastic reduction in copepod progeny and for the detrimental impact of bloom-forming diatoms on zooplankton communities in many pelagic ecosystems of the world. In their article on p. 1810 ff., A. Fontana et al. show that the process is not neccessarily dependent on the synthesis of polyunsaturated aldehydes (PUAs), as hitherto believed. On the contrary, the toxic effects of diatoms on copepods are associated with an oxidative imbalance that follows lysis of the unicellular algae. Early activation of lypolitic and lipoxygenase enzymes causes a massive synthesis of fatty acid hydroperoxides and highly reactive oxygen species, as well as a blended mixture of undisclosed oxylipins, that explain the lethal impact of diatom diets on copepod reproduction.