Furthermore, the results offer an explanation why many of the nematocysts do not discharge during sequestration by A. stephanieae and can therefore subsequently be incorporated in the cnidosacs.

The sequestered nematocysts probably are not fully functional at the moment of gastropod feeding and therefore are not able to discharge even when they show the same morphology. Acidification in the cnidosac is at least one process buy LDE225 to render them functional, so that they can be used by the gastropod for defensive purposes. This does not necessarily preclude that other factors help to avoid discharge during the feeding process of the gastropod, and it does not preclude that even mature nematocysts might pass through the digestive tract

or even be incorporated in the cnidosac. Our results mainly show that acidification is a necessary process of nematocysts’ and kleptocnides’ maturation. The mechanism, how the capsules are triggered for discharge and whether there are further processes in maturation still have to be investigated. Ageladine A, isolated from sponges used for experiments stems Venetoclax molecular weight from Matthias Köck (AWI, Bremerhaven) and synthetized Ageladine A stems from S Shengule and Peter Karuso (Sydney). We are grateful to both labs. Sabrina Bleidissel (Wuppertal) and Annette Klussmann-Kolb (Frankfurt) provided living samples. Lily Wescott (former Bonn) and Elise Lätz (Bonn) helped in amending the English. Two reviewers contributed with valuable comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. The Alexander Koenig Gesellschaft of the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig and the German Research Foundation (Wa618/10-1) provided financial support. “
“Cyanobacteria are a group of prokaryotic organisms primarily found in freshwater

environments, especially in tropical regions, where warm water temperatures and high nutrient concentrations often allow their growth (Saker and Eaglesham, 1999). Of major concern PTK6 is the production of toxins that have become recognized as potent hazards in drinking water throughout the world (Falconer and Humpage, 2006). Our previous studies with a cyanotoxin (Picanço et al., 2004; Soares et al., 2007; Carvalho et al., 2010; Casquilho et al., 2011) showed that a single intraperitoneal sub-lethal dose (40 μg/kg BW) of microcystin-LR (MCYST-LR) impairs lung mechanics and increases polymorphonuclear influx in lung parenchyma. The toxic alkaloid cylindrospermopsin can be produced by a range of cyanobacterial species, like Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii ( Ohtani et al., 1992), Aphanizomenon ovalisporum ( Banker et al., 1997), Raphidiopsis curvata ( Li et al., 2001), and Umezakia natans ( Harada et al., 1994). In 1978, a serious poisoning of humans resulting from consumption of water contaminated with the toxic cyanobacterium C. raciborskii took place in Palm Island, Australia.