The common pathogenic prodiplostomulum metacercaria in the flesh, mostly near the skin, of pond-produced channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus has been demonstrated to be Bolbophorus damnificus Overstreet & Curran n. sp. The catfish acquires the infection from the snail Planorbella trivolvis, the only known first intermediate host, and the species is perpetuated through the American white pelican Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, as confirmed by experimental infections with nestling and dewormed adult pelican specimens in conjunction with molecular data. It differs from the cryptic species Bolbophorus sp., also found concurrently in the American white pelican, by having eggs 123-129 microm rather than 100-112 microm long and consistent low values for nucleotide percentage sequence similarity comparing COI, ITS 1/2, 18S rRNA and 28S rRNA fragments. Bolbophorus sp. is comparable but most likely distinct from B. confusus (Kraus, 1914), which occurs in Europe and has eggs 90-102 microm long. Its intermediate hosts were not demonstrated. The adults of neither of the confirmed North American species of Bolbophorus were encountered in any bird other than a pelican, although several shore birds feed on infected catfish, and B. damnificus can survive but not mature when protected in the mouse abdominal cavity. B. ictaluri (Haderlie, 1953) Overstreet & Curran n. comb., a species different from B. damnificus, is considered a species inquirenda.

The blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, which uses the copper-dependent protein haemocyanin for oxygen transport, lacks the ubiquitous cytosolic copper-dependent enzyme copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu,ZnSOD) as evidenced by undetectable levels of Cu,ZnSOD activity, protein and mRNA in the hepatopancreas (the site of haemocyanin synthesis) and gills. Instead, the crab has an unusual cytosolic manganese SOD (cytMnSOD), which is retained in the cytosol, because it lacks a mitochondrial transit peptide. A second familiar MnSOD is present in the mitochondria (mtMnSOD). This unique phenomenon occurs in all Crustacea that use haemocyanin for oxygen transport. Molecular phylogeny analysis suggests the MnSOD gene duplication is as old as the origin of the arthropod phylum. cytMnSOD activity in the hepatopancreas changes during the moulting cycle of the crab. Activity is high in intermoult crabs and non-detectable in postmoult papershell crabs. mtMnSOD is present in all stages of the moulting cycle. Despite the lack of cytCu,ZnSOD, crabs have an extracellular Cu,ZnSOD (ecCu,ZnSOD) that is produced by haemocytes, and is part of a large, approx. 160 kDa, covalently-linked protein complex. ecCu,ZnSOD is absent from the hepatopancreas of intermoult crabs, but appears in this tissue at premoult. However, no ecCu,ZnSOD mRNA can be detected, suggesting that the protein is recruited from the haemolymph. Screening of different taxa of the arthropod phylum for Cu,ZnSOD activity shows that those crustaceans that use haemoglobin for oxygen transport have retained cytCu,ZnSOD. It appears, therefore, that the replacement of cytCu,ZnSOD with cytMnSOD is part of an adaptive response to the dynamic, haemocyanin-linked, fluctuations in copper metabolism that occur during the moulting cycle of the crab.

The enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD), which catalyzes the dismutation of the superoxide radical, is present in the cytosol and mitochondria of all oxygen-respiring eukaryotes. The cytosolic form contains copper and zinc (CuZnSOD), whereas the mitochondrial form contains manganese (MnSOD). The latter protein is synthesized in the cytosol as a MnSOD precursor, containing an N-terminal mitochondrial-targeting sequence. CuZnSOD is sensitive toward cyanide (CN) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), but MnSOD is not. Assays for SOD activity in cytosol from the hepatopancreas of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, showed the presence of a CN/H2O2-insensitive form of SOD. No CN/H2O2-sensitive CuZnSOD was found. This unexpected phenomenon was shown to occur in all decapod crustacea (crabs, lobsters, shrimp) examined. The cytosolic and mitochondrial SODs of C. sapidus were purified by means of ion-exchange, size-exclusion, and reverse-phase HPLC. The cytosolic SOD is a homodimeric protein, which exists in a monomer-dimer equilibrium (24 kDa left and right arrow 48 kDa). The protein contains approximately 1 Mn per subunit. No copper or zinc is present. Amino acid sequence analysis identified the novel cytosolic SOD as a MnSOD precursor with an abnormal mitochondrial-targeting sequence. The mitochondrial SOD of C. sapidus is similar to the MnSOD found in other eukaryotes. N-Terminal amino sequences of mitochondrial and cytosolic blue crab MnSOD differ in several positions. The MnSODs are thus encoded for by two different genes. The paradigm that all eukaryotes contain intracellular CuZnSOD and that MnSOD occurs exclusively in the mitochondria appears not to apply to a large group of marine arthropods.

Horizontal starch gel electrophoresis was used to detect genetic variation at eight enzyme loci and five general protein loci in 11 populations of Polymesoda caroliniana from the Gulf of Mexico and south Atlantic coast of the U. S. Little variability was found between four of these populations along a salinity gradient in the Cape Fear Estuary, NC, and a regional trend was not observed in other populations along a latitudinal gradient. Heterogeneity analyses and dendrograms, both based on allele frequencies, suggest populations from the Gulf coast of Florida are genetically different from both a northern Gulf population (Mississippi) and Atlantic populations. The population from Mississippi was similar to populations from the Atlantic coast, all of which were similar. Heterozygosity in the 11 populations ranged between 8.11 and 28.0%, and the percentage of loci polymorphic between 37.5 and 71.4%. Populations conformed to Hardy-Weinberg expectations at greater than 95% of all loci assayed except glucose dehydrogenase, where only the populations from Fort Myers, FL, and Sapelo Island, GA, conformed to Hardy-Weinberg expectations. Electrophoretic pattems observed suggest P. caroliniana larvae are planktonic and effective at dispersal.

No abstract