%0 Journal Article %J Marine Pollution Bulletin %D 2015 %T Foraminiferal assemblages as bioindicators to assess potential pollution in mangroves used as a natural biofilter for shrimp farm effluents (New Caledonia) %A Debenay, J-P %A Cyril Marchand %A Nathalie Molnar %A Adélaide Aschenbroich %A Tarik Meziane %K Effluents %K fatty acids %K Foraminifera %K Mangrove %K Shrimp farming %K SW Pacific %X

In New Caledonia, semi-intensive shrimp farms release untreated effluents into the mangrove. Foraminiferal assemblages were analyzed for assessing the impact of effluent release on the benthic compartment. Comparison was made between samples collected (1) in an effluent receiving mangrove before and after the rearing cycle, and (2) for one-year monitoring an effluent receiving and a control mangrove. The distribution of foraminiferal assemblages was primarily driven by the gradient between Rhizophora stands and salt-flats, related to salinity and tidal elevation, and by seasonal cycles. The potential impact of effluent release was due to the combined effects of normal-saline effluents on surface salinity, and of nutrient input and microbial stimulation on food availability. Foraminiferal assemblages did not indicate a substantial impact of farm effluents and suggest that semi-intensive shrimp farming using mangrove for effluent discharge may appear as a sustainable solution in New Caledonia, when considering only the impact on the mangrove itself.

%B Marine Pollution Bulletin %V 93 %P 103-120 %8 15 April 2015 %G eng %N 1-2 %9 Research %R 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.02.009 %0 Journal Article %J Geobiology %D 2014 %T Biomineralization of Schlumbergerella floresiana, a significant carbonate-producing benthic foraminifer. %A Sabbatini, A %A Bedouet, L %A Marie, A %A Bartolini, A %A Landemarre, L %A Weber, M X %A Gusti Ngurah Kade Mahardika, I %A Berland, Sophie %A Zito, F %A Vénec-Peyré, M-T %K Amino Acid Sequence %K Amino Acids %K Calcification, Physiologic %K Carbonates %K Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel %K Foraminifera %K Molecular Sequence Data %K Monosaccharides %X

Most foraminifera that produce a shell are efficient biomineralizers. We analyzed the calcitic shell of the large tropical benthic foraminifer Schlumbergerella floresiana. We found a suite of macromolecules containing many charged and polar amino acids and glycine that are also abundant in biomineralization proteins of other phyla. As neither genomic nor transcriptomic data are available for foraminiferal biomineralization yet, de novo-generated sequences, obtained from organic matrices submitted to ms blast database search, led to the characterization of 156 peptides. Very few homologous proteins were matched in the proteomic database, implying that the peptides are derived from unknown proteins present in the foraminiferal organic matrices. The amino acid distribution of these peptides was queried against the uniprot database and the mollusk uniprot database for comparison. The mollusks compose a well-studied phylum that yield a large variety of biomineralization proteins. These results showed that proteins extracted from S. floresiana shells contained sequences enriched with glycine, alanine, and proline, making a set of residues that provided a signature unique to foraminifera. Three of the de novo peptides exhibited sequence similarities to peptides found in proteins such as pre-collagen-P and a group of P-type ATPases including a calcium-transporting ATPase. Surprisingly, the peptide that was most similar to the collagen-like protein was a glycine-rich peptide reported from the test and spine proteome of sea urchin. The molecules, identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry analyses, included acid-soluble N-glycoproteins with its sugar moieties represented by high-mannose-type glycans and carbohydrates. Describing the nature of the proteins, and associated molecules in the skeletal structure of living foraminifera, can elucidate the biomineralization mechanisms of these major carbonate producers in marine ecosystems. As fossil foraminifera provide important paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic information, a better understanding of biomineralization in these organisms will have far-reaching impacts.

%B Geobiology %V 12 %P 289-307 %8 2014 Jul %G eng %N 4 %R 10.1111/gbi.12085