The ability to photorepair UV damaged DNA and the rate of photoreactivation in two Antarctic Starfish Odontaster validus and Odontaster meridionalis compared with a New Zealand species Odontaster benhami

Photorepair rates in New Zealand temperate species of echinoderms show a much higher DNA photorepair than the Antarctic species Sterechinus neumayeri. To examine the reason for low rates of DNA photorepair in Sterechinus, the expression of the photorepair gene in a number of Antarctic and New Zealand starfish was compared. The Antarctic starfish Odontaster validus and Odontaster meridionalis were taken to New Zealand for experiments and compared with the New Zealand species Odontaster benhami.To obtain a measure of the rate of photoreactivation, the disappearance of CPDs over time in embryos that were either able to photorepair or were photorepair inhibited was examined. Embryos were exposed to UVB for 1 hour (13.9 KJ) then allowed to photorepair. Samples were taken at 0, 1, 2, 6, 12 and 24 hours post UV exposure and the CPDs were quantified.