Browse
Submit Data
Databases
API
Help

Dataset Information

30 Views

0 Connections

0 Citations

0 Reanalyses

0 Downloads

Omics score: 0

New method for automatic body length measurement of the collembolan, Folsomia candida Willem 1902 (Insecta: Collembola).

ABSTRACT: The collembolan, Folsomia candida, is widely used in soil ecotoxicology. In recent years, growth rate of collembolans has become as frequently used endpoint as reproduction rate in ecotoxicological studies. However, measuring collembolan body sizes to estimate growth rate is a complicated and time-consuming task. Here we present a new image analysis method, which facilitates and accelerates the body length measurement of the collembolan Folsomia candida. The new software package, called CollScope, consists of three elements: 1) an imaging device; 2) photographing software; 3) an ImageJ macro for image processing, measurement and data analysis. We give a complete description of the operation of the software, the image analyzing process and describe its accuracy and reliability. The software with a detailed usage manual is attached as Supplementary Material. We report a case study to demonstrate that the automated measurement of collembolan body sizes is highly correlated with the traditional manual measurements (estimated measuring accuracy 0.05 mm). Furthermore, we performed a dose-response ecotoxicity test using cadmium-sulfate by using CollScope as well as classical methods for size measurement. Size data measured by CollScope or manually did not differ significantly. Furthermore the new software package decreased time consumption of the measurements to 42% when tested on 35 animals. Consequently, methodological investigations performed in this study should be regarded as a recommendation for any other routine dose-response study where body growth is an endpoint.

SUBMITTER: Banszegi O

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4046991 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Json Xml

Similar Datasets

Reference genes for QRT-PCR tested under various stress conditions in Folsomia candida and Orchesella cincta (Insecta, Collembola).

Project description:BackgroundGenomic studies measuring transcriptional responses to changing environments and stress currently make their way into the field of evolutionary ecology and ecotoxicology. To investigate a small to medium number of genes or to confirm large scale microarray studies, Quantitative Reverse Transcriptase PCR (QRT-PCR) can achieve high accuracy of quantification when key standards, such as normalization, are carefully set. In this study, we validated potential reference genes for their use as endogenous controls under different chemical and physical stresses in two species of soil-living Collembola, Folsomia candida and Orchesella cincta. Treatments for F. candida were cadmium exposure, phenanthrene exposure, desiccation, heat shock and pH stress, and for O. cincta cadmium, desiccation, heat shock and starvation.ResultsEight potential reference genes for F. candida and seven for O. cincta were ranked by their stability per stress factor using the programs geNorm and Normfinder. For F. candida the succinate dehydrogenase (SDHA) and eukaryotic transcription initiation factor 1A (ETIF) genes were found the most stable over the different treatments, while for O. cincta, the beta actin (ACTb) and tyrosine 3-monooxygenase (YWHAZ) genes were the most stable.ConclusionWe present a panel of reference genes for two emerging ecological genomic model species tested under a variety of treatments. Within each species, different treatments resulted in differences in the top stable reference genes. Moreover, the two species differed in suitable reference genes even when exposed to similar stresses. This might be attributed to dissimilarity of physiology. It is vital to rigorously test a panel of reference genes for each species and treatment, in advance of relative quantification of QRT-PCR gene expression measurements.

| S-EPMC2698932 | biostudies-literature

Developmental expression and evolution of hexamerin and haemocyanin from Folsomia candida (Collembola).

Project description:Haemocyanins constitute a group of copper-containing respiratory proteins, and hexamerins were derived from hexapod haemocyanin but lost the ability to transport oxygen and serve as storage proteins. Although hexamerins have been reported in most insect species, none of them has been identified in Collembola, one of the most primitive hexapod lineages, thereby preventing us from exploring relevant evolutionary scenarios regarding the origin and evolution of hexamerins in hexapods. Here we report on collembolan hexamerins for the first time, and investigated the temporal expression profiles of hexamerin and haemocyanin in the collembolan Folsomia candida. Haemocyanin was expressed over the entire life cycle, with higher expression at the embryonic stage than at other stages, whereas hexamerin expression was restricted to embryos, unlike insect hexamerins, which are generally expressed from larval to adult stages. A phylogenetic analysis and molecular clock estimation suggested that all investigated hexapod hexamerins have a single and ancient origin (~423 Ma), coincident with the rise of atmospheric oxygen levels in the Silurian-Devonian period, indicating a physiological link between molecular evolution and Palaeozoic oxygen changes.

| S-EPMC6850205 | biostudies-literature

Effects of litter quality on foraging behaviour and demographic parameters in <i>Folsomia candida</i> (Collembola).

Project description:Litter quality has long been associated with demographic parameters of Collembola populations. However, little is known about the capacity of Collembola to perceive and seek better litter quality. To address this gap, three complementary laboratory experiments were carried out with the Collembola Folsomia candida. First, populations were fed on three different types of leaf litters (Quercus pubescens, Acer opalus and Prunus avium) and a control (agar-agar-brewer's yeast mixture) for 6 weeks to assess their impacts on demography (reproduction rate and population size). Second, the body length of individuals differentially fed with the same four types of resources was measured to assess a functional trait that can potentially affect movement parameters such as prospected area or foraging speed. Third, F. candida single individuals were exposed to the same litter quality gradient and placed at an increasing distance from the litter (from 1 to 5 cm). For 10 min, their foraging behaviour was recorded which included prospected area, foraging speed, perception distance and success in reaching the litter (foraging success). As expected, low-quality litter (i.e. Q. pubescens) contributed to low population growth compared to the control treatment and the high-quality litters (P. avium and A. opalus). In the third experiment, the probability of finding the resource was negatively correlated to the distance, but was unrelated to the litter quality and the Collembola body length. When resource was perceived, F. candida was able to switch from non-directional to directional movements, with a large variability in the perception distance from a few millimetres to several centimetres. Taken together, our results indicate that litter quality plays a relevant role in Collembola demographic parameters once the population settles on litter patch, but not on foraging behaviour to select high-quality resources.

| S-EPMC10439338 | biostudies-literature

Sugar sweet springtails: On the transcriptional response of Folsomia candida (Collembola) towards desiccation stress

2009-09-01 | GSE16127 | GEO

Intraspecific Phenotypic Variation and Morphological Divergence of Strains of Folsomia candida (Willem) (Collembola: Isotomidae), the "Standard" Test Springtaill.

Project description:We describe and compare the external morphology of eleven clonal strains and one sexual lineage of the globally distributed Folsomia candida, known as "standard" test Collembola. Of the 18 morphological characters studied, we measured 14 to have significant between-strains genetic variations, 9 of these had high heritabilities (>78%). The quantified morphological polymorphism was used to analyse the within-species relationships between strains by using both a parsimony analysis and a distance tree. These two detailed morphological phylogenies have revealed that the parthenogenetic strains grouped themselves into two major clades. However the exact position of the sexual strain remains unclear and further analysis is needed to confirm its exact relationship with the parthenogenetic ones. The two morphologically based clades were found to be the same as the ones previously described using molecular analysis. This shows that despite large within-strain variations, morphological characters can be used to differentiate some strains that have diverged within a single morphospecies. We discuss the potential evolutionary interpretations and consequences of these different levels of phenotypic variability.

| S-EPMC4565708 | biostudies-literature

Intergeneric transfer of conjugative and mobilizable plasmids harbored by Escherichia coli in the gut of the soil microarthropod Folsomia candida (Collembola).

Project description:The gut of the soil microarthropod Folsomia candida provides a habitat for a high density of bacterial cells (T. Thimm, A. Hoffmann, H. Borkott, J. C. Munch, and C. C. Tebbe, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64:2660-2669, 1998). We investigated whether these gut bacteria act as recipients for plasmids from Escherichia coli. Filter mating with E. coli donor cells and collected feces of F. candida revealed that the broad-host-range conjugative plasmid pRP4-luc (pRP4 with a luciferase marker gene) transferred to fecal bacteria at estimated frequencies of 5.4 x 10(-1) transconjugants per donor. The mobilizable plasmid pSUP104-luc was transferred from the IncQ mobilizing strain E. coli S17-1 and less efficiently from the IncF1 mobilizing strain NM522 but not from the nonmobilizing strain HB101. When S17-1 donor strains were fed to F. candida, transconjugants of pRP4-luc and pSUP104-luc were isolated from feces. Additionally, the narrow-host-range plasmid pSUP202-luc was transferred to indigenous bacteria, which, however, could not maintain this plasmid. Inhibition experiments with nalidixic acid indicated that pRP4-luc plasmid transfer took place in the gut rather than in the feces. A remarkable diversity of transconjugants was isolated in this study: from a total of 264 transconjugants, 15 strains belonging to the alpha, beta, or gamma subclass of the class Proteobacteria were identified by DNA sequencing of the PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes and substrate utilization assays (Biolog). Except for Alcaligenes faecalis, which was identified by the Biolog assay, none of the isolates was identical to reference strains from data banks. This study indicates the importance of the microarthropod gut for enhanced conjugative gene transfer in soil microbial communities.

| S-EPMC106440 | biostudies-literature

Sugar sweet springtails: On the transcriptional response of Folsomia candida (Collembola) towards desiccation stress

Project description:Folsomia candida (Collembola) is able to survive dryer conditions by absorbing water vapour from its surroundings. To unravel the genomic responses underlying this intriguing water-absorption mechanism, we exposed the species to 98.2% Relative Humidity (eight, 27, 53 and 174 hours respectively) and subjected it to microarray based transcription profiling. About twenty-five 25-27 day old animals were placed in plastic containers that had a Relative Humidity of 98.2% (desiccated groups; n=16) or 100% RH (reference groups; n=16). After 8, 27, 53 and 174 hours four reference and four desiccation treated groups were snap-frozen (in liquid nitrogen) and stored at â80 Â°C until further analysis. Total RNA was obtained for each of the 32 samples. 500ng total RNA was labelled with the Agilent Low-Input Fluorescent Linear Amplification Kit. A pair-wise reference design was applied, implying that samples originating from desiccated groups were hybridized onto arrays with samples from reference groups that were exposed for the same duration; 8, 27, 53 or 174 hours). Dyes were swapped over the biological replicates.

2010-05-06 | E-GEOD-16127 | biostudies-arrayexpress

A multi-generational risk assessment of Cry1F on the non-target soil organism <i>Folsomia candida</i> (Collembola) based on whole transcriptome profiling.

Project description:The Bacillus thuringiensis toxin Cry1F has been used to develop insect-resistant genetically engineered crops. There has been great interest in evaluating its potential risk to non-target organisms (NTOs). However, the majority of previous risk assessments only examined one generation of NTOs using several physiological indicators, which cannot comprehensively detect some potential sub-lethal effects at the molecular level. In this study, we conducted a laboratory-based, multi-generational risk assessment of Cry1F for the collembolan Folsomia candida, an important representative of soil arthropods in terms of survival, reproduction, and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) identified from whole transcriptome profiles. Our results demonstrated that Cry1F was continuously ingested by collembolans over three consecutive generations, but it did not affect the survival or reproduction of F. candida. There were no significant differences in the global gene expression between F. candida-fed diets with and without Cry1F, and no consistent co-expressed DEGs over three generations. In addition, Cry1F did not obviously alter the expression profiles of seven sensitive biological markers. Our composite data indicates that Cry1F had no long-term harmful effects on collembolan F. candida.

| S-EPMC6512762 | biostudies-literature

Multigeneration toxicity of imidacloprid and thiacloprid to Folsomia candida.

Project description:In a recent study, we showed that the springtail Folsomia candida was quite sensitive the neonicotinoid insecticides imidacloprid and thiacloprid. This study aimed at determining the toxicity of both compounds to F. candida following exposure over three generations, in natural LUFA 2.2 standard soil. In the first generation, imidacloprid was more toxic than thiacloprid, with LC50s of 0.44 and 9.0 mg/kg dry soil, respectively and EC50s of 0.29 and 1.5 mg/kg dry soil, respectively. The higher LC50/EC50 ratio suggests that thiacloprid has more effects on reproduction, while imidacloprid shows lethal toxicity to the springtails. In the multigeneration tests, using soil spiked at the start of the first generation exposures, imidacloprid had a consistent effect on survival and reproduction in all three generations, with LC50s and EC50s of 0.21-0.44 and 0.12-0.29 mg/kg dry soil, respectively, while thiacloprid-exposed animals showed clear recovery in the second and third generations (LC50 and EC50 > 3.33 mg/kg dry soil). The latter finding is in agreement with the persistence of imidacloprid and the fast degradation of thiacloprid in the test soil.

| S-EPMC5397431 | biostudies-literature