METABOLIC RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN GREEN HYDRA AND ITS SYMBIOTIC ALGAE

¹ Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine, California 92717

1. Hydra that maintain algal symbionts evidenced three modes of metabolism depending upon the nutritional state of the host and the photoperiodic conditions under which the animals were maintained. Animals either fed or fasted but maintained in the dark exhibited an RQ of 0.725 indicating fat metabolism. When they were fed Artemia nauplii and maintained in the light, green hydra exhibited a mixed metabolism of carbohydrate and fat which gave an RQ of 0.862. Fasting green hydra, when maintained in the light, showed a pronounced carbohydrate metabolism typified by an RQ of 0.970.

2. Aposymbiotic hydra, whether fed or fasted, exhibited an RQ of 0.725 indicating a high degree of fat metabolism.

3. Symbiotic hydra which were fed and maintained in the light demonstrated a respiration rate of 14.4 µl/day per hydra, which was 2.5 times greater than animals (symbiotic or aposymbiotic) maintained under any other condition of fasting or photoperiod. It is hypothesized that the enhanced respiration observed in these animals is due to the metabolic activities of the symbiotic algae associated with reproduction and development.

4. Calculations based on respiratory measurements and indirect calorimetry suggest that hydra consume approximately 0.0320 calories per day and that symbiotic algae may supply up to 69% of the host caloric requirements via the translocation of approximately 5 µg of carbohydrate when the host is fasting and light is provided.