Event Abstract Back to Event Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon pollution affects tissue fatty acid compositions in Holothuria scabra (Jaeger, 1833): A sea cucumber from Qeshm Island, Persian Gulf, Iran Elham Kamyab1, 2*, Julian Döring3, Aida Khazaali2 and Andreas Kunzmann2 1 Oldenburg University, Institute for chemistary and marine biology (ICBM), Germany 2 Institute for marine tropical ecology (ZMT), Germany 3 Institute for marine tropical ecology, Germany Tropical sea cucumbers like Holothuria scabra are of increasing commercial importance because of their supposedly beneficial effects on the human health. They are sensitive organisms to any (micro) contaminant accumulated in marine sediments. In spite of their important role in the ecosystem as bioturbators, their physiological performance under anthropogenic environmental pollution is not sufficiently well studied. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in the environment mainly originate from human activities and have negative impacts on the quality of sediments and therefore also on deposit feeders. The aim of the present study was to identify the impact of PAH on the essential fatty acid (EFA) compositions in different tissues (muscle, body wall, and respiratory tree) of H. scabra. EFAs such as Arachidonic acid (20:4(n-3)), Docosahexaenoic acid (22:6(n-3)), and Eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5(n-3)) play important roles in the metabolic pathways of echinoderms and are crucial during the overall physiological performance of a species. Therefore, specimens were sampled at two different sites on Qeshm Island, Iran. At one sampling site, elevated PAH levels could be detected, whereas no PAH pollution was traceable at the other. EFA compositions differed between different tissues within both sampled populations. Also, differences in EFA compositions were observed between tissues of specimens sampled at the polluted and at the not polluted sampling site. This may reveal direct effects of PAH pollution on the benthic primary producer community and/or on the metabolic pathways in H. scabra. Understanding the effects of anthropogenic pollutants on a key species’ EFA composition and thus on its metabolism is crucial to evaluate the impact of man-made pollution on marine ecosystems. Keywords: Fatty Acids, DHA, EPA, PAH, Iran, metabolic pathway, Anthropogenic pollution Conference: IMMR | International Meeting on Marine Research 2016, Peniche, Portugal, 14 Jul - 15 Jul, 2016. Presentation Type: Oral presentation Topic: Biodiversity, Conservation and Coastal Management Citation: Kamyab E, Döring J, Khazaali A and Kunzmann A (2016). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon pollution affects tissue fatty acid compositions in Holothuria scabra (Jaeger, 1833): A sea cucumber from Qeshm Island, Persian Gulf, Iran. Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: IMMR | International Meeting on Marine Research 2016. doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.04.00104 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 19 May 2016; Published Online: 13 Jul 2016. * Correspondence: Ms. Elham Kamyab, Oldenburg University, Institute for chemistary and marine biology (ICBM), Wilhemshaven, Germany, elham.kamyab@zmt-bremen.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Elham Kamyab Julian Döring Aida Khazaali Andreas Kunzmann Google Elham Kamyab Julian Döring Aida Khazaali Andreas Kunzmann Google Scholar Elham Kamyab Julian Döring Aida Khazaali Andreas Kunzmann PubMed Elham Kamyab Julian Döring Aida Khazaali Andreas Kunzmann Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.