scholarly journals Angular Substrate Preference and Molting Behavior of the Giant River Prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii and Its Implications for Cannibalism Management

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm L. McCallum ◽  
Samad D. Weston ◽  
Yonathan Tilahun

AbstractThe Giant River Prawn is an important commercial species from southeastern Asia and has a large global market. It has a complex life cycle in which it undergoes several molting sequences. Many arthropods require firm perches on which they can perform ecdysis. We investigated preference for substrate slope and its influence on ecdysis. We discovered that prawns occupy horizontal surfaces more frequently than others, but during pre-molt and molt stages, they shift their habitat use to non-horizontally sloped surfaces. Here, they will flex their shell and later molt. We recommend modification of cannibalism management in commercial facilities by providing sufficient vertical (strongly preferred) or high-sloped (greater than 30 degrees) surfaces to facilitate ecdysis, while providing much horizontal space for foraging and other activities. This should create habitat separation between foraging and highly susceptible freshly-molted prawns, thus leading to reduced cannibalism-related mortality.FundingThis work was supported by the USDA Evans Allen Program at Langston University, Project Number USDA-NIFA-OKLUMCCALLUM2017.Disclosure statementWe acknowledge that there is no financial interest or benefit that has arisen from the direct applications of our research.

Author(s):  
Betty Ruth Jones ◽  
Steve Chi-Tang Pan

INTRODUCTION: Schistosomiasis has been described as “one of the most devastating diseases of mankind, second only to malaria in its deleterious effects on the social and economic development of populations in many warm areas of the world.” The disease is worldwide and is probably spreading faster and becoming more intense than the overall research efforts designed to provide the basis for countering it. Moreover, there are indications that the development of water resources and the demands for increasing cultivation and food in developing countries may prevent adequate control of the disease and thus the number of infections are increasing.Our knowledge of the basic biology of the parasites causing the disease is far from adequate. Such knowledge is essential if we are to develop a rational approach to the effective control of human schistosomiasis. The miracidium is the first infective stage in the complex life cycle of schistosomes. The future of the entire life cycle depends on the capacity and ability of this organism to locate and enter a suitable snail host for further development, Little is known about the nervous system of the miracidium of Schistosoma mansoni and of other trematodes. Studies indicate that miracidia contain a well developed and complex nervous system that may aid the larvae in locating and entering a susceptible snail host (Wilson, 1970; Brooker, 1972; Chernin, 1974; Pan, 1980; Mehlhorn, 1988; and Jones, 1987-1988).


Author(s):  
Annie Jonsson

AbstractMost animal species have a complex life cycle (CLC) with metamorphosis. It is thus of interest to examine possible benefits of such life histories. The prevailing view is that CLC represents an adaptation for genetic decoupling of juvenile and adult traits, thereby allowing life stages to respond independently to different selective forces. Here I propose an additional potential advantage of CLCs that is, decreased variance in population growth rate due to habitat separation of life stages. Habitat separation of pre- and post-metamorphic stages means that the stages will experience different regimes of environmental variability. This is in contrast to species with simple life cycles (SLC) whose life stages often occupy one and the same habitat. The correlation in the fluctuations of the vital rates of life stages is therefore likely to be weaker in complex than in simple life cycles. By a theoretical framework using an analytical approach, I have (1) derived the relative advantage, in terms of long-run growth rate, of CLC over SLC phenotypes for a broad spectrum of life histories, and (2) explored which life histories that benefit most by a CLC, that is avoid correlation in vital rates between life stages. The direction and magnitude of gain depended on life history type and fluctuating vital rate. One implication of our study is that species with CLCs should, on average, be more robust to increased environmental variability caused by global warming than species with SLCs.


1968 ◽  
Vol 42 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 295-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Hamilton ◽  
A. W. McCaw

Aelurostrongylus abstrusus, the lungworm of the cat, has a world wide distribution and has been reported from countries as far apart as America, Great Britain and Palestine. It has a complex life cycle insofar as a molluscan intermediate host is essential and it is possible that auxiliary hosts also play an important part. In Britain, the incidence of active infestation of cats with the parasite has been recorded as 19·4% (Lewis, 1927) and 6·6% (Hamilton, 1966) but the latter author found that, generally, the clinical disease produced by the parasite was of a mild nature. It is known that the average patent period of the infestation in the cat is 8–13 weeks and it seems likely that, in that time, a considerable number of first stage larvae would be evacuated. Information on that point is not available and the object of the following experiment was to ascertain the number of larvae produced by cats during the course of a typical infestation.


1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Kainz ◽  
Michael S. Simpson ◽  
W. Charles Moeser

Parasitology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 143 (14) ◽  
pp. 1824-1846 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL P. BENESH

SUMMARYComplex life cycles are common in free-living and parasitic organisms alike. The adaptive decoupling hypothesis postulates that separate life cycle stages have a degree of developmental and genetic autonomy, allowing them to be independently optimized for dissimilar, competing tasks. That is, complex life cycles evolved to facilitate functional specialization. Here, I review the connections between the different stages in parasite life cycles. I first examine evolutionary connections between life stages, such as the genetic coupling of parasite performance in consecutive hosts, the interspecific correlations between traits expressed in different hosts, and the developmental and functional obstacles to stage loss. Then, I evaluate how environmental factors link life stages through carryover effects, where stressful larval conditions impact parasites even after transmission to a new host. There is evidence for both autonomy and integration across stages, so the relevant question becomes how integrated are parasite life cycles and through what mechanisms? By highlighting how genetics, development, selection and the environment can lead to interdependencies among successive life stages, I wish to promote a holistic approach to studying complex life cycle parasites and emphasize that what happens in one stage is potentially highly relevant for later stages.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas M.B. Brancucci ◽  
Mariana De Niz ◽  
Timothy J. Straub ◽  
Deepali Ravel ◽  
Lauriane Sollelis ◽  
...  

Background: Malaria parasites go through major transitions during their complex life cycle, yet the underlying differentiation pathways remain obscure. Here we apply single cell transcriptomics to unravel the program inducing sexual differentiation in Plasmodium falciparum. Parasites have to make this essential life-cycle decision in preparation for human-to-mosquito transmission. Methods: By combining transcriptional profiling with quantitative imaging and genetics, we defined a transcriptional signature in sexually committed cells. Results: We found this transcriptional signature to be distinct from general changes in parasite metabolism that can be observed in response to commitment-inducing conditions. Conclusions: This proof-of-concept study provides a template to capture transcriptional diversity in parasite populations containing complex mixtures of different life-cycle stages and developmental programs, with important implications for our understanding of parasite biology and the ongoing malaria elimination campaign.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessie Fernandez ◽  
Victor Lopez ◽  
Lisa Kinch ◽  
Mariel A. Pfeifer ◽  
Hillery Gray ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTRice blast disease caused by Magnaporthe oryzae is a devastating disease of cultivated rice worldwide. Infections by this fungus lead to a significant reduction in rice yields and threats to food security. To gain better insight into growth and cell death in M. oryzae during infection, we characterized two predicted M. oryzae metacaspase proteins, MoMca1 and MoMca2. These proteins appear to be functionally redundant and are able to complement the yeast Yca1 homologue. Biochemical analysis revealed that M. oryzae metacaspases exhibited Ca2+ dependent caspase activity in vitro. Deletion of both MoMca1 and MoMca2 in M. oryzae resulted in reduced sporulation, delay in conidial germination and attenuation of disease severity. In addition, the double ΔMomca1mca2 mutant strain showed increased radial growth in the presence of oxidative stress. Interestingly, the ΔMomca1mca2 strain showed an increase accumulation of insoluble aggregates compared to the wild-type strain during vegetative growth. Our findings suggest that MoMca1 and MoMca2 promote the clearance of insoluble aggregates in M. oryzae, demonstrating the important role these metacaspases have in fungal protein homeostasis. Furthermore, these metacaspase proteins may play additional roles, like in regulating stress responses, that would help maintain the fitness of fungal cells required for host infection.IMPORTANCEMagnaporthe oryzae causes rice blast disease that threatens global food security by resulting in the severe loss of rice production every year. A tightly regulated life cycle allows M. oryzae to disarm the host plant immune system during its biotrophic stage before triggering plant cell death in its necrotrophic stage. The ways M. oryzae navigates its complex life cycle remains unclear. This work characterizes two metacaspase proteins with peptidase activity in M. oryzae that are shown to be involved in the regulation of fungal growth and development prior to infection by potentially helping maintain fungal fitness. This study provides new insight into the role of metacaspase proteins in filamentous fungi by illustrating the delays in M. oryzae morphogenesis in the absence of these proteins. Understanding the mechanisms by which M. oryzae morphology and development promote its devastating pathogenicity may lead to the emergence of proper methods for disease control.


2011 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 127-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Coppens

Several protozoan parasites undergo a complex life cycle that alternates between an invertebrate vector and a vertebrate host. Adaptations to these different environments by the parasites are achieved by drastic changes in their morphology and metabolism. The malaria parasites must be transmitted to a mammal from a mosquito as part of their life cycle. Upon entering the mammalian host, extracellular malaria sporozoites reach the liver and invade hepatocytes, wherein they meet the challenge of becoming replication-competent schizonts. During the process of conversion, the sporozoite selectively discards organelles that are unnecessary for the parasite growth in liver cells. Among the organelles that are cleared from the sporozoite are the micronemes, abundant secretory vesicles that facilitate the adhesion of the parasite to hepatocytes. Organelles specialized in sporozoite motility and structure, such as the inner membrane complex (a major component of the motile parasite's cytoskeleton), are also eliminated from converting parasites. The high degree of sophistication of the metamorphosis that occurs at the onset of the liver-form development cascade suggests that the observed changes must be multifactorial. Among the mechanisms implicated in the elimination of sporozoite organelles, the degradative process called autophagy contributes to the remodelling of the parasite interior and the production of replicative liver forms. In a broader context, the importance of the role played by autophagy during the differentiation of protozoan parasites that cycle between insects and vertebrates is nowadays clearly emerging. An exciting prospect derived from these observations is that the parasite proteins involved in the autophagic process may represent new targets for drug development.


eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulia Vasianovich ◽  
Emmanuel Bajon ◽  
Raymund J Wellinger

The templating RNA is the core of the telomerase reverse transcriptase. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the complex life cycle and maturation of telomerase includes a cytoplasmic stage. However, timing and reason for this cytoplasmic passage are poorly understood. Here, we use inducible RNA tagging experiments to show that immediately after transcription, newly synthesized telomerase RNAs undergo one round of nucleo-cytoplasmic shuttling. Their export depends entirely on Crm1/Xpo1, whereas re-import is mediated by Kap122 plus redundant, kinetically less efficient import pathways. Strikingly, Mex67 is essential to stabilize newly transcribed RNA before Xpo1-mediated nuclear export. The results further show that the Sm7 complex associates with and stabilizes the telomerase RNA in the cytoplasm and promotes its nuclear re-import. Remarkably, after this cytoplasmic passage, the nuclear stability of telomerase RNA no longer depends on Mex67. These results underscore the utility of inducible RNA tagging and challenge current models of telomerase maturation.


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