Skip Navigation

American Zoologist 2001 41(4):770-780; doi:10.1093/icb/41.4.770
© 2001 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Towle, D. W.
Right arrow Articles by Weihrauch, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Osmoregulation by Gills of Euryhaline Crabs: Molecular Analysis of Transporters1

David W. Towle2,1 and Dirk Weihrauch1
1 Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, Salisbury Cove, Maine 04672 and Department of Biology, Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, Illinois 60045

The physiological mechanisms by which aquatic animals regulate the osmoconcentration of their body fluids remain unclear despite many excellent studies of tissue and cell function. This review summarizes the current status of an ongoing molecular biological approach to investigating transporters and transport-related enzymes in ion-transporting gills of osmoregulating crustaceans. We have identified cDNAs coding for six candidate proteins in gills of the blue crab Callinectes sapidus and the green shore crab Carcinus maenas, including a Na+ + K+-ATPase {alpha}-subunit, a V-type H+-ATPase B-subunit, a Na+/H+ exchanger, a Na+/K+/2Cl– cotransporter, two isoforms of carbonic anhydrase, and arginine kinase. Although our account is far from complete, examination of mRNA abundance by quantitative reverse transcription/polymerase chain reaction (RT/PCR) has identified candidates that are preferentially expressed in gill epithelium, including the Na+ + K+-ATPase {alpha}-subunit and Na+/H+ exchanger. The osmoregulatory response to salinity reduction includes enhanced mRNA expression of at least one form of carbonic anhydrase.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol.Home page
M. Tresguerres, S. K. Parks, S. E. Sabatini, G. G. Goss, and C. M. Luquet
Regulation of ion transport by pH and [HCO3-] in isolated gills of the crab Neohelice (Chasmagnathus) granulata
Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, March 1, 2008; 294(3): R1033 - R1043.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.