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AME 24:265-274 (2001)
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Abstract
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Accumulation and removal of UVBR-induced DNA damage in marine tropical plankton subjected to mixed and simulated non-mixed conditions
Peter Boelen1,2,*, Marcel J. W. Veldhuis2, Anita G. J. Buma1
1Department of Marine Biology, University of Groningen, PO Box 14, 9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands
2Department of Biological Oceanography, NIOZ, PO Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg Texel, The Netherlands
*E-mail: p.boelen@biol.rug.nl
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ABSTRACT: Accumulation and removal of UVBR (ultraviolet-B radiation: 280 to 315 nm)-induced DNA damage (cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers; CPDs) were studied in 2 size fractions (0.2 to 0.8 and 0.8 to 10 µm) of natural populations of tropical marine bacterio-
and phytoplankton off Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. Plankton was either directly sampled from the surface layer (mixed situation), or incubated in UVR-transparent bags at 2 water depths (simulated non-mixed situation). A DNA dosimeter was used to
measure biologically effective UVBR doses as well as attenuation of biologically effective radiation in the surface layer. A significant difference in CPD level between the 2 plankton size fractions could not be measured. In the mixed as well as in the
non-mixed situation, DNA damage was accumulated between 09:00 and 14:00 h irrespective of the variability in incident UVBR. Surface layer samplings on consecutive days showed a clear diel pattern of increase and decrease, indicating that, in the field,
DNA damage is repaired or diluted during the afternoon or at night. No significant repair of DNA damage could be measured in samples that were incubated during the afternoon at 0.2 or 10 m depth. The UVBR sensitivity of surface-incubated plankton was
expressed as the ratio between damage induced in the cells to damage induced in (unshielded and unrepaired) bare DNA. In both plankton size classes this ratio fluctuated around 0.32. In conclusion, the results show that plankton cells present in the clear
waters off Curaçao undergo UVBR stress despite the fact that they are subjected to vertical mixing. No significant difference in CPD levels between 2 size fractions of plankton could be measured, suggesting that in this plankton population other aspects,
e.g. repair capacities or cell morphology, were more important than cell size.
KEY WORDS: Cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers · DNA damage · DNA repair · Caribbean Sea · Marine bacteria · Mixing · Phytoplankton · Ultraviolet-B radiation, UVBR
Full text in pdf format
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Published in AME Vol.
24, No. 3
(2001) on July 18
ISSN: 0948-3055.
Copyright © Inter-Research, Oldendorf/Luhe, 2001
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