Some sea snails produce their eggs with the help of actively photosynthetic organelles that they absorb from algae. This is reported by a team in the magazine "Proceedings of the Royal Society B".
The Sacoglossa are marine molluscs whose idea of brunch is to suck the cellular mucus from algae. Some of these snails succeed in incorporating the photosynthetic structures of the algae, the chloroplasts, into their cells without damaging them. This makes it possible for the animals to obtain the sugars or fatty acids that the organelles produce when they use the sun for nutrient production.
Sónia Cruz from the University of Aveiro in Portugal and her colleagues had previously shown that the Elysia Viridis nude snail transported molecules produced by the chloroplasts into their reproductive tissue. In the current study, the team presents that snails of the Art Elysia Timida produce more eggs in the presence of light than in the dark. The researchers show that the stolen chloroplasts produce molecules, which then use the snails to build up polyunsaturated fatty acids that are important for reproduction.
© Springer Nature 10.1038/D41586-021-02631-2, 2021
