Welcome back, guys!
It is officially week 2 at OIMB and things have progressed. My mentor, George, my lab partner, Ana, and I all sat down to talk about our research project and what our goals are for this summer. In order to delve into our project, I will introduce some background information you will need to know. Cilia Microtubule protrusions that are attached to a cell Pilidium The larval stage of a nemertean Larva "Free-living, sexually mature form in some animal life cycles that may differ from the adult stage in the morphological, dietary and habitual senses" (Campbell 1414) Cryptophyte/Cryptomonad A group of algae that when irritated it jumps Ex: Rhodomonas Ejectisome A piece of a cell that will eject the content that is within it. One kind of ejectisome is the cryptomonad. Most organisms eat, but not all eat in the same way or use the same feeding apparatus. Cilia are conserved in essentially all invertebrate groups and used in one way or another to attain food. There are multiple methods to achieve this. One of which is using their cilia to reverse the beat and move the food towards their back where the other cilia will beat in the opposite direction so that it will enter the food groove. This area tells the food where to go and with the help of the cilia the food is led to the mouth; organisms like these are called downstream collectors. There are also organisms called upstream collectors; they move their cilia away from the mouth and a beat reversal occurs when food is recognized in the near area causing the cilia to then lead it to the mouth in order to be ingested. A new method of ingestion was found in the Pilidium. A current is made which allows parcels of food and other things to pass by the cilia; next, the muscle fibers under the ciliated band change the shape of the lappets. This in effect allows the organism to swallow the prey and the water. Once this is accomplished the cilia from different parts of the body cause the prey to end up in the stomach. In lab, our Pilidium and our echinoids larvae are often fed Rhodomonas. Recent observations show that Rhodomonas, a type of cryptophyte, is an escape prey due to a large number of ejectisomes. Pilidium can move the Rhodomonas deeper into themselves, due to a deep mouth, in order to avoid that situation. Pilidium appears to have adapted to eat this specific. In our experiment, we want to answer the question of whether or not the size of a mouth affects the capture of prey in ciliated invertebrate larvae. In order to answer this question, we will observe development and feeding of certain invertebrate larvae and compare certain traits that we deem impressionable to keeping their prey in them, and we will embryologically manipulate the mouth’s size which will help determine if it has anything to do with keeping the escape-prone prey. We will compare the larvae of sand dollars, sea urchins and starfish and the partial larvae in these organisms using the confocal microscope. Through high-speed video microscopy, we will observe if smaller mouth sizes affect how well they keep the escape-prone prey or the size and defense level of the prey affect its retention.
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AuthorHi! My name is Kostantina Orselli and I am transferring to California State University of Northridge. My interests include hiking, kayaking, playing with my dog, hanging out with friends, watching movies and more. I am ecstatic to be experiencing this opportunity at OIMB! Archives
August 2018
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