Dynamics analysis of the fluorescently labeled algal organelle incorporated in photosynthetic sea slug cell

囊舌海蛞蝓从大型浮游生物中吸取细胞质，并捕获叶绿体在蛞蝓细胞中进行光合作用。尽管许多海蛞蝓研究人员已经报道了这种被称为“窃虫症”的神秘现象，但其机制在很大程度上仍然未知。在这项研究中，分析kleptoplasty的详细过程中，实时成像程序监测藻类细胞器纳入蛞蝓细胞。首先，将编码针对叶绿体、细胞核和叶绿体的GFP融合蛋白的嵌合基因转化大型植物羽状真藓。然后将转化后的藻细胞喂给一种光合作用的海蛞蝓Elysia ornata，成功地检测到了蛞蝓体内荧光标记的藻细胞器。这一新的系统将为Kleptophlasty的机制和改造B的技术提供新的见解。plumosa应适用于其他海藻的研究。

Sacoglossan sea slugs suck cytosol from macroalga and capture the chloroplast to perform photosynthesisin in the slug's cell . Although the mysterious phenomenon, termed as kleptoplasty, has been reported by a lot of sea slug researchers, the mechanism has remained largely unknown. In this study, to analyze the detail process of kleptoplasty, a live-imaging procedure monitoring the algal organelle incorporated in the slug cell was developed. At first, a macro alga, Bryopsis plumosa, was transformed with chimeric genes encoding GFP-fused proteins targeting chloroplast, nucleus and mitochondrion. And then, by feeding the transformed alga to a photosynthetic sea slug, Elysia ornata, fluorescent-labelled algal organelle in the slug body were successfully detected. The novel system will give new insights for the mechanism of the Kleptophlasty, and the technique transforming B. plumosa should be applicable to other seaweed research.