Evidence for direct mother-offspring transmission of a possible symbiont inhabiting the midgut gland (MGG) of Pomacea canaliculata.

KOCH E, VEGA IA, ALBRECHT EA, GAMARRA-LUQUES C, CASTRO-VÁZQUEZ A

San Luis

Congreso; XIX Reunión Anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo.; 2001

Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo

Evidence for direct mother-offspring trans - mission of a possible symbiont inhabiting the midgut gland (MGG) of Pomacea canaliculata Koch E, Vega IA, Albrecht EA, Gamarra-Luques C, Castro-Vazquez A. Lab. of Physiology, IHEM, UNCuyo-CONICET, C. de Correo 33, 5500 Mendoza. E-mail: acv@fmed2.uncu.edu.aracv@fmed2.uncu.edu.ar Koch E, Vega IA, Albrecht EA, Gamarra-Luques C, Castro-Vazquez A. Lab. of Physiology, IHEM, UNCuyo-CONICET, C. de Correo 33, 5500 Mendoza. E-mail: acv@fmed2.uncu.edu.aracv@fmed2.uncu.edu.ar Koch E, Vega IA, Albrecht EA, Gamarra-Luques C, Castro-Vazquez A. Lab. of Physiology, IHEM, UNCuyo-CONICET, C. de Correo 33, 5500 Mendoza. E-mail: acv@fmed2.uncu.edu.aracv@fmed2.uncu.edu.ar Pomacea canaliculata Koch E, Vega IA, Albrecht EA, Gamarra-Luques C, Castro-Vazquez A. Lab. of Physiology, IHEM, UNCuyo-CONICET, C. de Correo 33, 5500 Mendoza. E-mail: acv@fmed2.uncu.edu.aracv@fmed2.uncu.edu.ar Koch E, Vega IA, Albrecht EA, Gamarra-Luques C, Castro-Vazquez A. Lab. of Physiology, IHEM, UNCuyo-CONICET, C. de Correo 33, 5500 Mendoza. E-mail: acv@fmed2.uncu.edu.aracv@fmed2.uncu.edu.ar Morphological and biochemical evidence suggests the symbiotic nature of intracellular corpuscles in the MGG. Since the putative symbiotic elements are eliminated in the feces of adult snails, and are not present both in the MGG and the feces of hatchlings, it was thought that the newborn detritivorous snails would acquire the symbiont by ingestion. To test this possibility, snails that were about to hatch were obtained under sterile conditions and incubated in a diluted egg extract for 7 days. Morphological examination of the MGG of these snails revealed the presence of typical C corpuscles. Results suggest that precursors of the symbiont are somehow transferred from the mother to the offspring, possibly through the albumen stored in the MGG primordium.