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Anemonefish use sialic acid metabolism as Trojan horse to avoid giant sea anemone stinging
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Anemonefish use sialic acid metabolism as Trojan horse to avoid giant sea anemone stinging
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Journal Article
Anemonefish use sialic acid metabolism as Trojan horse to avoid giant sea anemone stinging
2025
Overview
Background
Anemonefish association with sea anemones is a prime example of mutualistic symbiosis. These fish live inside the sea anemone, benefitting from the protection of its toxic nematocysts, and in return, protect the anemone from its own predators. How anemonefish manage to avoid their host toxic stings remains unclear. One hypothesis suggests that low levels of sialic acids in anemonefish mucus prevent nematocyst discharge.
Results
This study verified four predictions: (i) anemonefish mucus has lower sialic acid levels than non-symbiotic damselfish; (ii) this reduction is specific to mucus; (iii) during development, sialic acid levels inversely correlate with protection; (iv) sea anemone mucus has minimal sialic acids.
Conclusions
We conclude that anemonefish regulates the level of sialic acids in their mucus to avoid nematocyst discharge. We also highlight several genes implicated in sialic acid removal that could explain the protection mechanisms in place. This mechanism, potentially used by
Dascyllus trimaculatus
juveniles, suggests a convergent strategy for mutualistic associations with sea anemones.
Publisher
BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
Subject
